Department of Chemistry

Anugrah Memorial College, Gaya

Class- B.Sc. 1 (Hons)

Subject- Organic Chemistry
Paper- 1C
Unit- Shapes and Structures of Organic molecules
Teacher – Dr. Nidhi Tripathi
Assistant Professor

Shapes and Structures of Organic molecules

HYBRIDISATION

The formation of bonds is no less than the act of courtship.

Atoms come closer, attract to each other and gradually lose
a little part of themselves to the other atoms. In chemistry,
the study of bonding, that is, Hybridization is of prime
importance. What happens to the atoms during bonding?
What happens to the atomic orbitals? The answer lies in the
concept of Hybridisation. Let us see!
 Introducing Hybridisation

All elements around us, behave in strange yet surprising

ways. The electronic configuration of these elements, along
with their properties, is a unique concept to study and
observe. Owing to the uniqueness of such properties and uses
of an element, we are able to derive many practical
applications of such elements.

When it comes to the elements around us, we can observe a

variety of physical properties that these elements display.
The study of hybridization and how it allows the combination
of various molecules in an interesting way is a very important
study in science.

Understanding the properties of hybridisation lets us dive

into the realms of science in a way that is hard to grasp in
one go but excellent to study once we get to know more
about it. Let us get to know more about the process of
hybridization, which will help us understand the properties of
different elements.

What is Hybridization?

Scientist Pauling introduced the revolutionary concept of

hybridization in the year 1931. He described it as the
redistribution of the energy of orbitals of individual atoms to
give new orbitals of equivalent energy and named the process
as hybridisation. In this process, the new orbitals come into
existence and named as the hybrid orbitals.
Rules for Observing the Type of Hybridisation

 The following rules are observed to understand the type

of hybridisation in a compound.

 Calculate the total number of valence electrons.

 Calculate the number of duplex or octet OR
 Number of lone pairs of electrons
 Number of used orbital = Number of duplex or octet +
Number of lone pairs of electrons
 If there is no lone pair of electrons then the geometry
of orbitals and molecule is different.

The following are the types of hybridisation:

1) sp – Hybridisation

• In such hybridisation one s- and one p-orbital are mixed

to form two sp – hybrid orbitals, having a linear
structure with bond angle 180 degrees. For example in
the formation of BeCl2 , first be atom comes in excited
state 2s12p1, then hybridized to form two sp – hybrid
orbitals. These hybrid orbitals overlap with the two p-
orbitals of two chlorine atoms to form BeCl2

2) sp2 – Hybridisation
 In such hybridisation one s- and to p-orbitals are mixed
form three sp2– hybrid orbitals, having a planar
triangular structure with bond angle 120 degrees.

3) sp3 – Hybridisation

• In such hybridisation one s- and three p-orbitals are

mixed to form four sp3– hybrid orbitals having a
tetrahedral structure with bond angle 109 degrees 28′,
that is, 109.5 degrees.

HYBRIDISATION OF CARBON
The ground state electronic configuration of carbon is
. The electronic configuration of carbon in
excited state is .

sp3 HYBRIDISATION
If we superimpose one s and three p atomic orbitals we get
4sp3 hybrid orbitals.

Each hybrid orbital contains single electron, has 25% s

character and 75% p character. They are directed towards
the four corners of a regular tetrahedron with the carbon
located in the centre. The angle between any two sp3 hybrid
orbitals is 109º 28' (109.5º).
These hybrid orbitals can overlap with four s atomic
orbitals provided by four hydrogen atoms to form methane
molecule.

sp2 HYBRIDISATION
If we superimpose one s and two p atomic orbitals we get
3sp2 hybrid orbitals
Each sp2 hybrid orbital has 33% s character and 67% p
character. They lie in the same plane with their axis
directed towards the corner of an equilateral triangle and
are 120º apart from each other. The unhybridized p z atomic
orbital is perpendicular to the plane of sp2 hybrid orbitals.

BONDING IN ETHYLENE

Consider two sp2 hybridised carbon atoms approaching to

each other and four hydrogen atoms which provide four s
atomic orbitals

sp HYBRIDISATION

If we superimpose one s and one p atomic orbitals we get

2sp hybrid orbitals.

Each sp hybrid orbital has 50% s character and 50% p

character. They are diagonally present with their axis
forming an angle of 180º. The unhybridized 2p y and 2p z
atomic orbitals are perpendicular to each other and
perpendicular to hybrid orbitals also.

BONDING IN ACETYLENE
 Department of Chemistry

Anugrah Memorial College, Gaya

Class- B.Sc. 1 (Hons)

Subject- Organic Chemistry
Paper- 1C
Unit- Shapes and Structures of Organic molecules
Topic- Bond Angle
Teacher – Dr. Nidhi Tripathi
Assistant Professor

Shapes and Structures of Organic molecules

Molecules, by definition, are most often held together

with covalent bonds involving single, double, and/or triple bonds,
where a "bond" is a shared pair of electrons
Molecular geometries can be specified in terms of bond
lengths, bond angles and torsional angles. The bond length is
defined to be the average distance between the nuclei of two
atoms bonded together in any given molecule.

A bond angle is the angle between two bonds originating from

the same atom in a covalent species. It is the angle formed
between three atoms across at least two bonds.
eg. 1:

eg. 2:

In simple terms, a bond angle is the geometric angle between

two adjacent bonds. Some common shapes of simple molecules
include:

 Linear: In a linear model, atoms are connected in a

straight line. The bond angles are set at 180°. For example,
carbon dioxide and nitric oxide have a linear molecular
shape.
 Trigonal planar: Molecules with the trigonal planar shape
are somewhat triangular and in one plane (flat).
Consequently, the bond angles are set at 120°. For
example, boron trifluoride.
 Angular: Angular molecules (also called bent or V-shaped)
have a non-linear shape. For example, water (H 2 O), which
has an angle of about 105°. A water molecule has two pairs
of bonded electrons and two unshared lone pairs.
 Tetrahedral: Tetra- signifies four, and -hedral relates to
a face of a solid, so "tetrahedral" literally means "having
four faces". This shape is found when there are four bonds
 all on one central atom, with no extra
unshared electron pairs. In accordance with
the VSEPR (valence-shell electron pair repulsion theory),
the bond angles between the electron bonds are 109.47°.
For example, methane (CH 4 ) is a tetrahedral molecule.

 Octahedral: Octa- signifies eight, and -hedral relates to a

face of a solid, so "octahedral" means "having eight faces".
The bond angle is 90 degrees. For example, sulfur
hexafluoride (SF 6 ) is an octahedral molecule.
 Trigonal pyramidal: A trigonal pyramidal molecule has
a pyramid-like shape with a triangular base. Unlike the
linear and trigonal planar shapes but similar to the
tetrahedral orientation, pyramidal shapes require three
dimensions in order to fully separate the electrons. Here,
there are only three pairs of bonded electrons, leaving one
unshared lone pair. Lone pair – bond pair repulsions change
the bond angle from the tetrahedral angle to a slightly
lower value. For example, ammonia (NH 3 ).

The bond angles in the table below are ideal angles from the
simple VSEPR theory, followed by the actual angle for the
example given in the following column where this differs.

Atoms Ideal bond

Electron
bonded angle
Lone domains
to Shape (example's Example Image
pairs (Steric
central bond
number)
atom angle)

2 0 2 linear 180° CO 2
Atoms Ideal bond
Electron
bonded angle
Lone domains
to Shape (example's Example Image
pairs (Steric
central bond
number)
atom angle)

trigonal
3 0 3 120° BF 3
planar

2 1 3 angular 120° (119°) SO 2

4 0 4 tetrahedral 109.5° CH 4

trigonal
3 1 4 109.5 (107.8°) NH 3
pyramidal

109.5°
2 2 4 angular H2O
(104.48°)[10][11]

trigonal
5 0 5 90°, 120° PCl 5
bipyramidal

ax–ax 180°
(173.1°),
4 1 5 seesaw eq–eq 120° SF 4
(101.6°),
ax–eq 90°

90° (87.5°),
3 2 5 T-shaped ClF 3
180° (175°)

2 3 5 linear 180° XeF 2

Atoms Ideal bond
Electron
bonded angle
Lone domains
to Shape (example's Example Image
pairs (Steric
central bond
number)
atom angle)

6 0 6 octahedral 90°, 180° SF 6

square
5 1 6 90° (84.8°) BrF 5
pyramidal

square
4 2 6 90°, 180° XeF 4
planar

Torsional Angle/ Dihedral angle

For four atoms bonded together in a chain, the torsional angle
or dihedral angle is the angle between the plane formed by the
first three atoms and the plane formed by the last three atoms.

A dihedral angle is the angle between two intersecting planes.

It is the angle between planes through two sets of three atoms,
having two atoms in common.

A torsion angle is defined as a particular example of a dihedral

angle, describing the geometric relation of two parts of a
molecule joined by a chemical bond. Every set of three not-
colinear atoms of a molecule defines a plane. When two such
planes intersect (i.e., a set of four consecutively-bonded atoms),
the angle between them is a dihedral angle.
Configuration names
syn n-Butane syn n-Butane
according to dihedral
Newman projection sawhorse projection
angle