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4.4: Using Lewis Symbols for Ionic Compounds

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    Learning Objectives
    • State the octet rule.
    • Define cations and anions.
    • Define ionic bond.
    • Draw Lewis structures for ionic compounds.

    The Octet Rule: The Drive for Eight

    The octet rule refers to the tendency of atoms to prefer to have eight electrons in the valence shell. When atoms have fewer than eight electrons, they tend to react and form more stable compounds. When discussing the octet rule, we do not consider d or f electrons. Only the s and p electrons are involved in the octet rule, making it useful for the main group elements (elements not in the transition metal or inner-transition metal blocks); an octet in these atoms corresponds to an electron configurations ending with \(s^2p^6\).

    Note

    The noble gases rarely form compounds. They have the most stable configuration (full octet, no charge), so they have no reason to react and change their configuration. All other elements attempt to gain, lose, or share electrons to achieve a noble gas configuration.

    Most atoms do not have eight electrons in their valence electron shell. Some atoms have only a few electrons in their outer shell, while some atoms lack only one or two electrons to have an octet. In cases where an atom has three or fewer valence electrons, the atom may lose those valence electrons quite easily until what remains is a lower shell that contains an octet. Atoms that lose electrons acquire a positive charge as a result because they are left with fewer negatively charged electrons to balance the positive charges of the protons in the nucleus. Positively charged ions are called cations. Most metals become cations when they make ionic compounds.

    Cations

    A neutral sodium atom is likely to achieve an octet in its outermost shell by losing its one valence electron.

    \[\ce{Na \rightarrow Na^{+} + e^{-}} \nonumber \]

    The cation produced in this way, Na+, is called the sodium ion to distinguish it from the element. The outermost shell of the sodium ion is the second electron shell, which has eight electrons in it. The octet rule has been satisfied. F

    Anions

    Some atoms have nearly eight electrons in their valence shell and can gain additional valence electrons until they have an octet. When these atoms gain electrons, they acquire a negative charge because they now possess more electrons than protons. Negatively charged ions are called anions. Most nonmetals become anions when they make ionic compounds.

    A neutral chlorine atom has seven electrons in its outermost shell. Only one more electron is needed to achieve an octet in chlorine’s valence shell. (In table salt, this electron comes from the sodium atom.)

    \[\ce{e^{-} +Cl -> Cl^{-}} \nonumber \]

    In this case, the ion has the same outermost shell as the original atom, but now that shell has eight electrons in it. Once again, the octet rule has been satisfied. The resulting anion, Cl, is called the chloride ion; note the slight change in the suffix (-ide instead of -ine) to create the name of this anion.

    The names for positive and negative ions are pronounced CAT-eye-ons and ANN-eye-ons, respectively.

    Note the usefulness of the periodic table in predicting likely ion formation and charge (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). Moving from the far left to the right on the periodic table, main-group elements tend to form cations with a charge equal to the group number. That is, group 1 elements form 1+ ions; group 2 elements form 2+ ions, and so on. Moving from the far right to the left on the periodic table, elements often form anions with a negative charge equal to the number of groups moved left from the noble gases. For example, group 17 elements (one group left of the noble gases) form 1− ions; group 16 elements (two groups left) form 2− ions, and so on. This trend can be used as a guide in many cases, but its predictive value decreases when moving toward the center of the periodic table. In fact, transition metals and some other metals often exhibit variable charges that are not predictable by their location in the table. For example, copper can form ions with a 1+ or 2+ charge, and iron can form ions with a 2+ or 3+ charge.

    CNX_Chem_02_06_IonCharges.jpg
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Some elements exhibit a regular pattern of ionic charge when they form ions.
    Group one of the periodic table contains L i superscript plus sign in period 2, N a superscript plus sign in period 3, K superscript plus sign in period 4, R b superscript plus sign in period 5, C s superscript plus sign in period 6, and F r superscript plus sign in period 7. Group two contains B e superscript 2 plus sign in period 2, M g superscript 2 plus sign in period 3, C a superscript 2 plus sign in period 4, S r superscript 2 plus sign in period 5, B a superscript 2 plus sign in period 6, and R a superscript 2 plus sign in period 7. Group six contains C r superscript 3 plus sign and C r superscript 6 plus sign in period 4. Group seven contains M n superscript 2 plus sign in period 4. Group eight contains F e superscript 2 plus sign and F e superscript 3 plus sign in period 4. Group nine contains C o superscript 2 plus sign in period 4. Group ten contains N i superscript 2 plus sign in period 4, and P t superscript 2 plus sign in period 6. Group 11 contains C U superscript plus sign and C U superscript 2 plus sign in period 4, A g superscript plus sign in period 5, and A u superscript plus sign and A u superscript 3 plus sign in period 6. Group 12 contains Z n superscript 2 plus sign in period 4, C d superscript 2 plus sign in period 5, and H g subscript 2 superscript 2 plus sign and H g superscript 2 plus sign in period 6. Group 13 contains A l superscript 3 plus sign in period 3. Group 14 contains C superscript 4 negative sign in period 2. Group 15 contains N superscript 3 negative sign in period 2, P superscript 3 negative sign in period 3, and A s superscript 3 negative sign in period 4. Group 16 contains O superscript 2 negative sign in period 2, S superscript 2 negative sign in period 3, S e superscript 2 negative sign in period 4 and T e superscript 2 negative sign in period 5. Group 17 contains F superscript negative sign in period 2, C l superscript negative sign in period 3, B r superscript negative sign in period 4, I superscript negative sign in period 5, and A t superscript negative sign in period 6. Group 18 contains H e in period 1, N e in period 2, A r in period 3, K r in period 4, X e in period 5 and R n in period 6.

    Lewis Symbols for Ionic Compounds

    In the section above, we saw how ions are formed by losing electrons to make cations or by gaining electrons to form anions. The astute reader may have noticed something: Many of the ions that form have eight electrons in their valence shell. Either atoms gain enough electrons to have eight electrons in the valence shell and become the appropriately charged anion, or they lose the electrons in their original valence shell; the lower shell, now the valence shell, has eight electrons in it, so the atom becomes positively charged. For whatever reason, having eight electrons in a valence shell is a particularly energetically stable arrangement of electrons. When atoms form compounds, the octet rule is not always satisfied for all atoms at all times, but it is a very good rule of thumb for understanding the kinds of bonding arrangements that atoms can make.

    It is not impossible to violate the octet rule. Consider lithium: in its elemental form, it has one valence electron and is stable. It is rather reactive, however, and does not require a lot of energy to remove that electron to make the Li+ ion. We could remove another electron by adding even more energy to the ion, to make the Li2+ ion. However, that requires much more energy than is normally available in chemical reactions, so sodium stops at a 1+ charge after losing a single electron. It turns out that the Li+ ion has a complete octet in its new valence shell, the n = 2 shell, which satisfies the octet rule. The octet rule is a result of trends in energies and is useful in explaining why atoms form the ions that they do.

    Now consider an Li atom in the presence of a Cl atom. The two atoms have these Lewis electron dot diagrams and electron configurations:

    \[\mathbf{Li\, \cdot }\; \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \mathbf{\cdot }\mathbf{\ddot{\underset{.\: .}Cl}}\mathbf{\: :} \nonumber \]

    \[\left [ Ne \right ]3s^{1}\; \; \; \; \left [ Ne \right ]3s^{2}3p^{5} \nonumber \]

    For the Li atom to obtain an octet, it must lose an electron; for the Cl atom to gain an octet, it must gain an electron. An electron transfers from the Na atom to the Cl atom:

    \[\mathbf{Li\, \cdot }\curvearrowright \mathbf{\cdot }\mathbf{\ddot{\underset{.\: .}Cl}}\mathbf{\: :} \nonumber \]

    resulting in two ions—the Na+ ion and the Cl ion:

    \[\mathbf{Li\, \cdot }^{+}\; \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \mathbf{:}\mathbf{\ddot{\underset{.\: .}Cl}}\mathbf{\: :}^{-} \nonumber \]

    \[\left [ Ne \right ]\; \; \; \; \; \left [ Ne \right ]3s^{2}3p^{6} \nonumber \]

    Both species now have complete octets, and the electron shells are energetically stable. From basic physics, we know that opposite charges attract. This is what happens to the Na+ and Cl ions:

    \[\mathbf{Li\, \cdot }^{+}\; + \; \mathbf{:}\mathbf{\ddot{\underset{.\: .}Cl}}\mathbf{\: :}^{-}\rightarrow Na^{+}Cl^{-}\; \; or\; \; NaCl \nonumber \]

    where we have written the final formula (the formula for sodium chloride) as per the convention for ionic compounds, without listing the charges explicitly. The attraction between oppositely charged ions is called an ionic bond, and it is one of the main types of chemical bonds in chemistry. Ionic bonds are caused by electrons transferring from one atom to another.

    In electron transfer, the number of electrons lost must equal the number of electrons gained. We saw this in the formation of NaCl. A similar process occurs between Mg atoms and O atoms, except in this case two electrons are transferred:

    Diagram of two electrons being transferred from magnesium to oxygen

    The two ions each have octets as their valence shell, and the two oppositely charged particles attract, making an ionic bond:

    \[\mathbf{Mg\,}^{2+}\; + \; \left[\mathbf{:}\mathbf{\ddot{\underset{.\: .}O}}\mathbf{\: :}\right]^{2-}\; \; \; \; \; Mg^{2+}O^{2-}\; or\; MgO \nonumber \]

    Remember, in the final formula for the ionic compound, we do not write the charges on the ions.

    What about when an Na atom interacts with an O atom? The O atom needs two electrons to complete its valence octet, but the Na atom supplies only one electron:

    \[\mathbf{Na\, \cdot }\curvearrowright \mathbf{\cdot }\mathbf{\ddot{\underset{.}O}}\mathbf{\: :} \nonumber \]

    The O atom still does not have an octet of electrons. What we need is a second Na atom to donate a second electron to the O atom:

    electron being transferred from two sodium atoms to an oxygen atom resulting in two positive sodium ions and and oxygen with a charge of - 2

    These three ions attract each other to give an overall neutral-charged ionic compound, which we write as Na2O. The need for the number of electrons lost being equal to the number of electrons gained explains why ionic compounds have the ratio of cations to anions that they do. This is required by the law of conservation of matter as well.

    Example \(\PageIndex{1}\): Synthesis of calcium chloride from Elements

    With arrows, illustrate the transfer of electrons to form calcium chloride from \(Ca\) atoms and \(Cl\) atoms.

    Solution

    A \(Ca\) atom has two valence electrons, while a \(Cl\) atom has seven electrons. A \(Cl\) atom needs only one more to complete its octet, while \(Ca\) atoms have two electrons to lose. Thus we need two Cl atoms to accept the two electrons from one \(Ca\) atom. The transfer process looks as follows:

    Electrons being transferred from calcium to chlorine

    The oppositely charged ions attract each other to make CaCl2.

    Example \(\PageIndex{2}\): Ionic Formula

    Find the formula of the ionic compound formed from O and Al.

    Solution: We first write down Lewis diagrams for each atom involved:

    Lewis dot diagrams for aluminum and oxygen

    We now see that each O atom needs 2 electrons to make up an octet, while each Al atom has 3 electrons to donate. In order that the same number of electrons would be donated as accepted, we need 2 Al atoms (2 × 3e donated) and 3 O atoms (3 × 2e accepted). The whole process is then

    Lewis dot diagrams for the reaction between aluminum and oxygen

    The resultant oxide consists of aluminum ions, Al3+, and oxide ions, O2–, in the ratio of 2:3. The formula is Al2O3.

    Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    With arrows, illustrate the transfer of electrons to form potassium sulfide from \(K\) atoms and \(S\) atoms.

    Answer:
    Electrons being transferred from 2 sodium atoms 2 sulfur atom creating potassium sulfide

    Summary

    • The tendency to form species that have eight electrons in the valence shell is called the octet rule.
    • The attraction of oppositely charged ions caused by electron transfer is called an ionic bond.
    • The strength of ionic bonding depends on the magnitude of the charges and the sizes of the ions.

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    4.4: Using Lewis Symbols for Ionic Compounds is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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