Jovial Monk wrote on Dec 31
st, 2024 at 4:08pm:
How can carbon monoxide form? Implications for valency of carbon?
Monk,
that question is beyond your paygrade.
https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Environmental_Chemistry/Supplemental_Mod...What are the molecular structures of carbon oxides?
The formation of carbon oxides is due to electronic configurations of carbon and oxygen.
They have 4 and 6 valence electrons respectively. Using these valence electrons, we can give the Lewis dot structure for CO and three resonance structures for CO2 as follows:
These formulas suggest very strong bonding between carbon and oxygen in these gaseous molecules: triple bond in C-O, and double bonds in O=C=O. However, a formula containing a triple bond contribute to the resonance structure.
What atomic orbitals are involved in the molecular orbitals of carbon oxides?
The chemical bonding is more of an interpretation of the molecules in view of their properties. Using results from quantum mechanical approach, we may start by reviewing the electronic configurations of carbon and oxygen:
C: 1s2 2s22p2
O: 1s2 2s22p4
Thus, the carbon has 4 valence electrons and oxygen has 6 valence electrons. The s and p atomic orbitals are available for chemical bonding.
The valence bond approach suggests that p orbitals of carbon and oxygen are used in these molecules. In CO, only one such atomic orbital from each atom of C and O are employed to form a sigma, s, bond, and overlapping of two p orbitals leads to the formation of the two pi, p, bond. Thus, the bond order is 3 between C and O in CºO.