Structure and Bonding
SO2 is a bent molecule with C2v symmetry point group. In terms of electron-counting formalism, the sulfur atom has an oxidation state of +4 and a formal charge of +1.
Sulfur and oxygen both have six valence electrons and the molecular bonds in SO2 are shown to be the same as those in ozone. Computational chemistry (using Natural bond orbitals) has found that d-orbitals are not involved in main group chemical bonding (see Hypervalent molecule). Hence, a Lewis structure consisting of 2 S–O sigma bonds and a Three-center four-electron pi bond linking the O–S–O chain is the optimum description, resulting in a bond order of 1.5, like the O–O bonds in ozone.
Read more about this topic: Sulfur Dioxide
Famous quotes containing the words structure and, structure and/or bonding:
“With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and definite hardening of the paragraphs.”
—James Thurber (1894–1961)
“Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason.”
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986)
“The bottom line on bonding with multiples seems to be that if you see bonding as a static event—a moment in time at which you must have eye contact and skin contact simultaneously with two or more infants—you may indeed be in trouble.”
—Pamela Patrick Novotny (20th century)