9.12: The Shared-Electron Covalent Bond
More than one non-equivalent structure
It sometimes happens that the octet rule can be satisfied by arranging the electrons in different ways. For example, there are three different ways of writing valid electron dot structures for the thiocyanate ion SCN – . Some of these structures are more realistic than others; to decide among them, you need to know something about the concepts of formal charge and electronegativity . These topics are discussed in the lesson that follows this one, where examples of working out such structures are given.