Covalent Bond

Covalent Bond

Langmuir (1919) refined the Lewis postulations by abandoning the idea of the stationary cubical arrangement of the octet, and by introducing the term covalent bond. The Lewis-Langmuir theory can be understood by considering the formation of the chlorine molecule, Cl₂. The Cl atom with electronic configuration, (Ne)3s² 3p⁵, is one electron short of the argon configuration. The formation of the Cl₂ molecule can be understood in terms of the sharing of a pair of electrons between the two chlorine atoms, each chlorine atom contributing one electron to the shared pair. In the process both chlorine atoms attain the outer shell octet of the nearest noble gas (i.e., argon).

The dots represent electrons. Such structures are referred to as Lewis dot structures.

The Lewis dot structures can be written for other molecules also, in which the combining atoms may be identical or different. The important conditions being that :

The Lewis dot structures can be written for other molecules also, in which the combining atoms may be may be identical or different. The important conditions being that:

• Each bond is formed as a result of sharing of an electron pair between the atoms.
• Each combining atom contributes at least one electron to the shared pair.
• The combining atoms attain the outer-shell noble gas configurations as a result of the sharing of electrons.
• Thus in water and carbon tetrachloride molecules, formation of covalent bonds can be represented as:

Thus when tow atoms share one electron pair they are said to be joined by a single covalent bond. In many compounds we have multiple bonds between atoms. The formation of multiple bonds envisages sharing of more than one electron pair between two atoms. If two atoms share two pairs of electrons, the covalent bond between them is called double bond. For example, in the carbon dioxide molecule, we have two double bonds between the carbon and oxygen atoms. Similarly in ethane molecule the two carbon atoms are joined by a double bond.

When combining atoms share three electron pairs as in the case of two nitrogen atoms in the N₂ molecule and the two carbon atoms in the ethyne molecule, a triple bond is formed.