NF5 Lewis structure

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NF₅ (nitrogen pentafluoride) has one nitrogen atom and five fluorine atoms.

In NF₅ Lewis structure, there are five single bonds around the nitrogen atom, with five fluorine atoms attached to it, and on each fluorine atom, there are three lone pairs.

Steps

To properly draw the NF₅ Lewis structure, follow these steps:

#1 Draw a rough sketch of the structure
#2 Next, indicate lone pairs on the atoms
#3 Indicate formal charges on the atoms, if necessary

Let’s break down each step in more detail.

#1 Draw a rough sketch of the structure

• First, determine the total number of valence electrons

In the periodic table, nitrogen lies in group 15, and fluorine lies in group 17.

Hence, nitrogen has five valence electrons and fluorine has seven valence electrons.

Since NF₅ has one nitrogen atom and five fluorine atoms, so…

Valence electrons of one nitrogen atom = 5 × 1 = 5
Valence electrons of five fluorine atoms = 7 × 5 = 35

And the total valence electrons = 5 + 35 = 40

Learn how to find: Nitrogen valence electrons and Fluorine valence electrons

• Second, find the total electron pairs

We have a total of 40 valence electrons. And when we divide this value by two, we get the value of total electron pairs.

Total electron pairs = total valence electrons ÷ 2

So the total electron pairs = 40 ÷ 2 = 20

• Third, determine the central atom

We have to place the least electronegative atom at the center.

Since nitrogen is less electronegative than fluorine, assume that the central atom is nitrogen.

Therefore, place nitrogen in the center and fluorines on either side.

• And finally, draw the rough sketch

#2 Next, indicate lone pairs on the atoms

Here, we have a total of 20 electron pairs. And five N — F bonds are already marked. So we have to only mark the remaining fifteen electron pairs as lone pairs on the sketch.

Also remember that both (nitrogen and oxygen) are the period 2 elements, so they can not keep more than 8 electrons in their last shell.

Always start to mark the lone pairs from outside atoms. Here, the outside atoms are fluorines.

So for each fluorine, there are three lone pairs, and for nitrogen, there is zero lone pair because all fifteen electron pairs are over.

Mark the lone pairs on the sketch as follows:

#3 Indicate formal charges on the atoms, if necessary

Use the following formula to calculate the formal charges on atoms:

Formal charge = valence electrons – nonbonding electrons – ½ bonding electrons

For nitrogen atom, formal charge = 5 – 0 – ½ (10) = 0

For each fluorine atom, formal charge = 7 – 6 – ½ (2) = 0

Here, both nitrogen and fluorine atoms do not have charges, so no need to mark the charges.

In the above structure, you can see that the central atom (nitrogen) forms an octet. And the outside atoms (fluorines) also form an octet. Hence, the octet rule is satisfied.

Therefore, this structure is the stable Lewis structure of NF₅.

Next: SiO Lewis structure

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