❑Covalent bond formation occurs between similar or even

identical atoms. Most often, two nonmetals are involved.

❑Covalent bond formation involves electron sharing.
❑In covalently bonded compounds, the basic structural
unit is a molecule. Indeed, such compounds are called
molecular compounds.
❑Molecular compounds may be solids ( glucose), liquids (
water), or gases ( carbon dioxide) at room temperature.
❑A molecular compounds, if soluble in water, usually
produces a nonconducting aqueous solution.
 Shared electron pair
1s electrons

. . ..
Two hydrogen atoms A hydrogen molecule
H + H H H
❑Covalent bond is a chemical bond resulting from two
nuclei attracting the same shared electrons.
 . . ..
..... ...... ...
.
.
Bonding
Electrons Nonbonding
Electrons

❑Bonding electrons are pairs of valence electrons that

are shared between atoms in a covalent bond.
❑Nonbonding electrons are pairs of valence electrons on
an atom that are not involved in electron sharing.
 . . ..
. ... .. ... ..
. .
.
Nitrogen has five valence electrons and gains three more
through sharing.
Draw Lewis structures for the simplest binary compounds

.....
that can be formed from the following pairs of nonmetals.

.....
.. . ... ....
.... . ... .... ... ..
.. . .
.. .... . ..
.... .
.. ....
❑A single covalent bond is a covalent bond in which two
atoms share one pair of electrons.
❑A double covalent bond is a covalent bond in which
two atoms share two pair of electrons.
❑A triple covalent bond is a covalent bond in which two

. .
atoms share three pairs of electrons.

. . ..
. . .. ..
.. . . ... ... .
.
a. Get the total available valence electrons in
a compound.
For CO2
carbon atom has 4 valence electrons
oxygen atom has 6 valence electrons
Total Available valence Electrons ( TAVE)
= ( 1 C atom x 4) + (2 O atoms X 6)
= 4 + 12
= 16
b. Compute for the Octet Rule requirement
that each atom should have 8 valence
electrons to become stable.

Number of electrons based on Octet Rule

= ( 1 C atom X 8) + ( 2 O atoms X 8)
= 8 + 16
= 24
c. Subtract b from a, then divide the
difference by 2 because a pair of shared
electron is equal to 1 bond. The quotient will
give you the number of bonds around the
central atoms.
Thus, there will be 4 bonds surrounding a carbon atom as
shown in the Lewis structure:
❑A systematic stepwise procedure exists for distributing
electrons as bonding nonbonding electron pairs in a
Lewis structure. This systematic approach is particularly
useful in situations where a molecule contains one or
more multiple bonds and when coordinate covalency is
present in molecule.
Step 1: Calculate the total number of valence electrons
available in the molecule by adding together the valence
electron counts for all atoms in the molecule

An SO2 molecule has 18 valence electrons

available for bonding. Sulfur ( Group VIA)
has 6 valence electrons, and each oxygen (
also Group VIA) has 6 valence electrons. The
total number is therefore 6 + 2(6) = 18
Step 2: Write the chemical symbols of the atoms in the
molecule in the order in which they are bonded to one
another, and then place a single covalent bond, involving

.. ..
two electrons between them

For common binary molecular compounds, the molecular

formula is often helpful in determining the identity of the
central atom. The central atom is the atom that
appears only once in the formula.
Draw Lewis structures for the following molecules.
Step 2: Write the chemical symbols of the atoms in the
molecule in the order in which they are bonded to one

..
another, and then place a single covalent bond, involving

.. .. ..
two electrons between them

..
In molecular compounds containing hydrogen, oxygen,
and an additional element, that additional element is
the central atom. Carbon is the central atom in nearly
all carbon-containing compounds.
❑A binary molecular compound is a molecular
compound in which only two nonmetallic elements are
present.
❑The use used when constructing the name of a binary
molecular compound is:
oThe full name of the nonmetal of lower electronegativity
is given first, followed by a separate word containing the
stem of the name of the more electronegative nonmetal
and the suffix –ide. Numeral prefixes, giving numbers of
atoms, precede the names of both nonmetals.
Number Numerical Prefix Example of Prefix Use*
1 mono- CO carbon monoxide
2 di- O2F2 dioxygen difluride
3 tri- NCl3 nitrogen trichloride
4 tetra- S4N4 tetrasulfur tetranitride
5 penta- ClF5 chlorine pentafluoride
6 hexa- I2F6 diiodine hexaflouride
7 hepta- IF7 iodine heptafluoride
8 octa- P4O8 tetraphosphorus octoxide
9 nona- P4S9 tetraphosphorus nonasulfide
10 deca- P4Se10 tetraphosphorus decaselenide
*When the prefix ends in “a” or “o” and the element name begins with
“a” or “o”, the final vowel of the prefix is usually dropped for ease of
pronunciation. For example, “monoxide” is used instead of
“monoxide, and “hexoxide” is used instead of “hexaoxide”
Compound Formula Accepted Common Names
H2O water
H2O2 Hydrogen peroxide
NH3 Ammonia
N2H4 Hydrazine
CH4 Methane
C2H6 Ethane
PH3 Phosphine
AsH3 asrsine
Name the following binary molecular compounds.
❑When two atoms of equal electronegativity share one or
more pairs of electrons, each atom exerts the same
attraction for the electrons, which results in the
electrons being equally shared. This type of bond is
called a nonpolar covalent bond. A nonpolar covalent
bond is a covalent in which there is equal sharing of
electrons between two atoms.
In the nonpolar covalent bond present in H2 ( H – H),
there is a symmetrical distribution of electron density
between the two atoms; that is, equal sharing of
electrons occurs.
❑When the two atoms involved in a covalent bond have
different electronegativities, the electron-sharing situation is
more complex. The atom that has the higher electronegativity
attracts the electrons more strongly that the other atom,
which results in an unequal sharing of electrons. This type
of covalent bond is called a polar covalent bond. A polar
covalent bond is a covalent bond in which there is unequal
sharing of electrons between two atoms.

In the polar covalent bond present in HCl ( H – Cl),

electron density is displaced toward the Cl atom
because of its greater electronegativity; that is, unequal
sharing of electrons occur.
❑Bond polarity is a measure of the degree of inequality in sharing
of electrons between two atoms in a chemical bond.
1. Bonds that involve atoms with the same or very similar
electronegativities are called nonpolar covalent bonds.
“Similar” here means an electronegativity difference of 0.4 or
less.
2. Bonds with an electronegativity difference greater that 0.4 but
less than 1.5 are called polar covalent bonds.
3. Bonds with an electronegativity difference greater than 2.0 are
called ionic bonds.
4. Bonds with an electronegativity difference between 1.5 and 2.0
are considered ionic if the bond involves a metal and a
nonmetal, and polar covalent if involves two nonmetals.
❑Molecular geometry is a description of the three-
dimensional arrangement of atoms within a molecule.
❑ VSEPR ( valence shell electron pair repulsion) theory is
a set of procedures for predicting the molecular geometry
of a molecule using the information contained in the
molecule’s Lewis structure.
The electron pair arrangements about central atom in the
cases of two, three, and four electron pairs are as follows:
❑Two electrons pairs, to be
as far apart as possible from
one another, are found on
opposite sides of a nucleus –
that is, at 180° angles to
one another. Such an
electron pair arrangement is
said to be linear.
❑Three electron pairs are as
far apart as possible when
they are found at the
corners of an equilateral
triangle. In such an
arrangement, they are
separated by 120° angles,
giving a trigonal planar
arrangement of electron
pairs.
❑A tetrahedral arrangement
of electron pairs minimizes
repulsion among sets of
electron pairs. A
tetrahedron is a four-sided
solid in which all four sides
are identical equilateral
triangles. The angle between
any two electron pairs is
109°.
❑All molecules with two VSEPR electron groups are linear. Two
common molecules with VSEPR electron groups are carbon
dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen cyanide ( HCN), whose Lewis
structure are

❑In CO2 , the central carbon atom’s two VSEPR electron groups
are the two double bonds. In HCN, the central carbon atom’s
two VSEPR electron groups are a single bond and triple bond.
In both molecules, the VSEPR electron groups arrange
themselves on opposite sides of the carbon, which produces a
linear molecule.
❑Molecules with three VSEPR electron groups have two possible
molecular structures: trigonal planar and angular. The former
occurs when all three VSEPR electron groups are bonding and
the latter when one of the VSEPR electron is nonbonding. The
molecule H2CO (formaldehyde)and SO2 ( sulfur dioxide)
illustrate these two possibilities. The Lewis structures are

Angular
Trigonal Planar
❑Molecules with four VSEPR electron groups have three possible
molecular geometries: tetrahedral ( no nonbonding electron
groups present), trigonal pyramidal ( one nonbonding electron
group present), and angular ( two nonbonding electron groups
present). The molecules CH4( methane) , NH3( ammonia), and
H2O (water) illustrate this sequence of molecular geometries.

Tetrahedral Trigonal Pyramidal Angular

 LINEAR

Occurs when two

VSEPR electron groups
2 bonding Linear
are present a central
atom.
 Trigonal
3 bonding
TRIGONAL PLANAR Planar

..
Occurs when three
VSEPR electron groups
are present a central
atom.
2 bonding Angular
1 nonbonding
 4 bonding Tetrahedral

TETRAHEDRAL

Occurs when four

VSEPR electron groups 3 bonding Trigonal
..
are present a central 1 nonbonding pyramidal

. ..
atom.

2 bonding
Angular
2 nonbonding