Alternative Formats
Chemical structures may be written in more compact forms, particularly when showing organic molecules. In condensed structural formulas, many or even all of the covalent bonds may be left out, with subscripts indicating the number of identical groups attached to a particular atom. Another shorthand structural diagram is the skeletal formula (also known as a bond-line formula or carbon skeleton diagram). In skeletal formulae, carbon atoms are not signified by the symbol C but by the vertices of the lines. Hydrogen atoms bonded to carbon are not shown — they can be inferred by counting the number of bonds to a particular carbon atom — each carbon is assumed to have four bonds in total, so any bonds not shown are, by implication, to hydrogen atoms.
Other diagrams may be more complex than Lewis structures, showing bonds in 3D using various forms such as space-filling diagrams.
Read more about this topic: Lewis Structure
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