{"id":15823,"date":"2016-02-21T19:23:29","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T19:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=15823"},"modified":"2017-08-07T08:57:21","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T07:57:21","slug":"real-hypervalency-in-a-small-molecule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=15823","title":{"rendered":"Real hypervalency in a small molecule."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"kcite-section\" kcite-section-id=\"15823\">\n<p>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hypervalent_molecule\" target=\"_blank\">Hypervalency<\/a> is defined as a molecule&nbsp;that contains one or more main group elements formally bearing more than eight&nbsp; electrons in their&nbsp; valence shell. One example of a molecule so characterised was CLi<sub>6<\/sub><span id=\"cite_ITEM-15823-0\" name=\"citation\"><a href=\"#ITEM-15823-0\">[1]<\/a><\/span> where the description &quot;&ldquo;<em>carbon can expand its octet of electrons to form this relatively stable molecule<\/em>&ldquo; was used. Yet, in this latter case, the octet expansion is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10801\" target=\"_blank\">in fact an illusion,<\/a> as indeed are many&nbsp;examples that are cited. The octet shell remains resolutely un-expanded. Here&nbsp;I will explore the tiny molecule CH<sub>3<\/sub>F<sup>2-<\/sup> where two extra electrons have been added to fluoromethane.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tTwo such electrons added to <em>e.g.<\/em> such a&nbsp;methane derivative can be in principle&nbsp;accommodated in two ways:\n<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n\t\tThe electrons on carbon&nbsp;could&nbsp;expand the octet shell by populating molecular orbitals constructed using 3s or&nbsp;3p atomic orbitals (AOs) as well as the&nbsp;normal 2s and 2p shells.&nbsp;This is also the normal &quot;explanation&quot; for expanded octets, the assumption being that as one moves down the rows of the periodic table (e.g. P, S, Cl, etc) these shells become energetically more accessible (<em>e.g. <\/em>the 3d or 4s shell for P, S, Cl etc). In fact, for <em>e.g.<\/em> PF<sub>5<\/sub>, the occupancy of such&nbsp;&nbsp;&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rydberg_atom\" target=\"_blank\">Rydberg<\/a>&quot; shells&nbsp;is only ~0.2 electrons, not&nbsp;a significant octet expansion.\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tThe electrons can instead or as well as&nbsp;populate the antibonding molecular orbitals (MOs) formed from just the 2s\/2p AOs.&nbsp;For a methane derivative, there are four bonding MOs&nbsp;(into which the octet of electrons are placed) and&nbsp;four anti-bonding MOs&nbsp;all constructed from the total of&nbsp;eight AOs. Well known examples of&nbsp;populating antibonding MOs&nbsp;are the series N&equiv;N, O=O (singlet), F-F, Ne&#8230;Ne where the additional electrons are added to anti-bonding MOs and have&nbsp;the effect of&nbsp;reducing the bond orders from 3 to 2 to&nbsp;1 to 0. And of course all core shells contain populated bonding and antibonding pairs.\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\n\tHere are some &omega;B97XD\/Def2-TZVPPD\/scrf=water calculations. All these species are&nbsp;molecules with all-real vibrations, being stable toward dissociation to <em>e.g. <\/em>CH<sub>3<\/sub><sup>&#8211;<\/sup> + H<sup>&#8211;<\/sup> or CH<sub>3<\/sub><sup>&#8211;<\/sup> + F<sup>&#8211;<\/sup>.&nbsp;&nbsp;A transition state for this latter dissocation with IRC<span id=\"cite_ITEM-15823-1\" name=\"citation\"><a href=\"#ITEM-15823-1\">[2]<\/a><\/span> can be characterised.&nbsp;In all cases the energy of the highest occupied MO or NBO is -ve, meaning that the electrons are bound, at least in part due to the solvent field applied.\n<\/p>\n<table border=\"1\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>\n\t\t\t\tMolecule\n\t\t\t<\/th>\n<th>\n\t\t\t\tWiberg CH order\n\t\t\t<\/th>\n<th>\n\t\t\t\tWiberg CF order\n\t\t\t<\/th>\n<th>\n\t\t\t\tNatural Populations\n\t\t\t<\/th>\n<th>\n\t\t\t\tE HONBO, au\n\t\t\t<\/th>\n<th>\n\t\t\t\tdataDOI\n\t\t\t<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\tCH<sub>4<\/sub><sup>2-<\/sup>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t0.773\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t&#8211;\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tC:[core]2S(1.98)2p(3.82)3S( 0.15)4d( 0.01)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tH:1S( 1.00)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t-0.144<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"CH4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15846\" height=\"100\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH4.jpg\" width=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH4.jpg 280w, https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH4-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH4-144x144.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t<span id=\"cite_ITEM-15823-2\" name=\"citation\"><a href=\"#ITEM-15823-2\">[3]<\/a><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\tCH<sub>3<\/sub>F<sup>2-<\/sup>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t0.980\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t1.213\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tC:[core]2S(1.05)2p( 3.20)3S(1.26)4p( 0.01)4d( 0.01)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tH:1S( 0.84)2S( 0.01)2p( 0.02)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tF:[core]2S(1.88)2p( 5.61)3S( 0.30)3p( 0.04)3d( 0.01)4p( 0.01)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t-0.068<div id=\"attachment_15843\" style=\"width: 110px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15843\" alt=\"Click for  3D\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15843\" height=\"100\" onclick=\"jmolInitialize('..\/Jmol\/','JmolAppletSigned.jar');jmolSetAppletColor('white');jmolApplet([450,450],'load wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH3F_mo10.cub.xyz;isosurface colour red blue wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH3F_mo10.cub.jvxl translucent;');\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH3F.jpg\" width=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH3F-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH3F-144x144.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15843\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click for 3D<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t<span id=\"cite_ITEM-15823-3\" name=\"citation\"><a href=\"#ITEM-15823-3\">[4]<\/a><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\tCH<sub>2<\/sub><font size=\"2\">F<\/font><sub>2<\/sub><sup>2-<\/sup>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t0.871\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t0.897\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tC:[core]2S(1.60)2p( 2.64)3S(0.39)3p( 0.01)4d( 0.01)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tH:1S(1.19)2S( 0.06)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tF:[core]2S(1.86)2p( 5.52)3S( 0.01)3p( 0.01)4p( 0.01)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t-0.281<div id=\"attachment_15844\" style=\"width: 110px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15844\" alt=\"Click for  3D\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15844\" height=\"100\" onclick=\"jmolInitialize('..\/Jmol\/','JmolAppletSigned.jar');jmolSetAppletColor('white');jmolApplet([450,450],'load wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH2CF2_mo14.cub.xyz;isosurface colour red blue wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH2CF2_mo14.cub.jvxl translucent;');\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH2F2.jpg\" width=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH2F2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH2F2-144x144.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-15844\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click for 3D<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t<span id=\"cite_ITEM-15823-4\" name=\"citation\"><a href=\"#ITEM-15823-4\">[5]<\/a><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\tCF<sub>4<\/sub><sup>2-<\/sup>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t&#8211;\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t0.801\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tC:[core]2S(1.94)2p( 1.96)3S( 0.19)3p( 0.04)5d( 0.01)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tF:[core]2S(1.89)2p( 5.54)3p( 0.01)3d( 0.02)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t&nbsp;\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t-0.148<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"CF4\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15845\" height=\"100\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CF4.jpg\" width=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CF4.jpg 376w, https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CF4-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CF4-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CF4-144x144.jpg 144w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<td>\n\t\t\t\t<span id=\"cite_ITEM-15823-5\" name=\"citation\"><a href=\"#ITEM-15823-5\">[6]<\/a><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<ol>\n<li>\n\t\tCH<sub>4<\/sub><sup>2-&nbsp;<\/sup>shows only small Rydberg occupancy (&lt; 0.2e), but a significantly reduced bond order for the four C-H bonds (each C-H&nbsp;bonding NBO&nbsp;also has some antibonding&nbsp;character for the other three CHs)&nbsp;and hence the molecule is not truly hypervalent.\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tCH<sub>3<\/sub>F<sup>2-<\/sup>&nbsp;in contrast shows quite different behavour. The C-H bond order is almost 1 and the C-F bond order is actually &gt;1. Of the two extra electrons, ~1.28 now occupy carbon Rydberg AOs and the fluorine also has significant Rydberg population (~0.36e). So this is a real hypervalent system, in which the total valencies exceed that expected from an octet.\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tCH<sub>2<\/sub><font size=\"2\">F<\/font><sub>2<\/sub><sup>2-<\/sup>&nbsp;is somewhere inbetween the previous two systems. The carbon has modest Rydberg occupancy (~0.4e) but there is also significant occupation of the antibonding MOs. Both the C-H and C-F bond orders are &lt;1.\n\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\tCF<sub>4<\/sub><sup>2-<\/sup>&nbsp;shows a further reduction in the C Rydberg occpancy (&lt;0.2) and the C-F bond order is also reduced. This reduction in bond order is also seen in other so-called hypervalent systems such as PF<sub>5<\/sub>.\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\n\tSo of these systems, CH<sub>3<\/sub>F<sup>2-<\/sup>&nbsp;can be reasonably called hypervalent, whilst the others have much less such character. It does appear that there is a fine balance between placing extra electrons into Rydberg orbitals to expand the &quot;octet&quot; and hence valencies, and placing them in anti-bonding orbitals where the individual valencies are actually reduced. It seems that substituting methane with just one fluorine encourages population of the Rydberg orbitals, but that more fluorines encourage instead population of the antibonding orbitals. What is remarkable is that&nbsp;CH<sub>3<\/sub>F<sup>2-<\/sup>&nbsp;actually has a (small) barrier to dissociation. The challenge now is to try to design a system which has a significant Rydberg population, a low antibonding population AND is stable to dissociation; this will require some inspiration. So do not hold your breaths!\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"citizen-ex__pane\" style=\"\">\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/div>\n<h2>References<\/h2>\n    <ol class=\"kcite-bibliography csl-bib-body\"><li id=\"ITEM-15823-0\">H. Kudo, \"Observation of hypervalent CLi6 by Knudsen-effusion mass spectrometry\", <i>Nature<\/i>, vol. 355, pp. 432-434, 1992. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/355432a0\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/355432a0<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li id=\"ITEM-15823-1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/\">https:\/\/doi.org\/<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li id=\"ITEM-15823-2\">H.S. Rzepa, \"C 1 H 4 -2\", 2016. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14469\/ch\/191837\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14469\/ch\/191837<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li id=\"ITEM-15823-3\">H.S. Rzepa, \"C 1 H 3 F 1 -2\", 2016. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14469\/ch\/191919\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14469\/ch\/191919<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li id=\"ITEM-15823-4\">H.S. Rzepa, \"C 1 H 2 F 2 -2\", 2016. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14469\/ch\/191918\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14469\/ch\/191918<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li id=\"ITEM-15823-5\">H.S. Rzepa, \"C 1 F 4 -2\", 2016. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14469\/ch\/191916\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14469\/ch\/191916<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<\/div> <!-- kcite-section 15823 -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hypervalency is defined as a molecule&nbsp;that contains one or more main group elements formally bearing more than eight&nbsp; electrons in their&nbsp; valence shell. One example of a molecule so characterised was CLi6 where the description &quot;&ldquo;carbon can expand its octet of electrons to form this relatively stable molecule&ldquo; was used. Yet, in this latter case, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":5,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2237,7],"tags":[1675,1676,1677,557,1519,24,1679,1681,1515,1680,1632,1678,1634],"ppma_author":[2661],"class_list":["post-15823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bond-slam","category-hypervalency","tag-antibonding-molecular-orbital","tag-atomic-orbital","tag-block","tag-chemical-bonding","tag-covalent-bond","tag-energy","tag-hypervalent-molecule","tag-hypervalent-systems","tag-molecular-orbital","tag-molecular-orbital-diagram","tag-octet-rule","tag-periodic-table","tag-valence"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Real hypervalency in a small molecule. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=15823\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Real hypervalency in a small molecule. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hypervalency is defined as a molecule&nbsp;that contains one or more main group elements formally bearing more than eight&nbsp; electrons in their&nbsp; valence shell. One example of a molecule so characterised was CLi6 where the description &quot;&ldquo;carbon can expand its octet of electrons to form this relatively stable molecule&ldquo; was used. Yet, in this latter case, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=15823\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-21T19:23:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-07T07:57:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CH4.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Henry Rzepa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Henry Rzepa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Real hypervalency in a small molecule. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=15823","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Real hypervalency in a small molecule. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog","og_description":"Hypervalency is defined as a molecule&nbsp;that contains one or more main group elements formally bearing more than eight&nbsp; electrons in their&nbsp; valence shell. One example of a molecule so characterised was CLi6 where the description &quot;&ldquo;carbon can expand its octet of electrons to form this relatively stable molecule&ldquo; was used. 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The odd case of hexamethyl selenium.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"November 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"One thread that runs through this blog is that of hypervalency. It was therefore nice to come across a recent review of the concept which revisits the topic, and where a helpful summary is given of the evolving meanings over time of the term hypervalent. The key phrase \"it soon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hypervalency&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hypervalency","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/165-1024x1008.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10801,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10801","url_meta":{"origin":15823,"position":1},"title":"Is  CLi6 hypervalent?","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"July 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A comment made on the previous post on the topic of hexa-coordinate carbon cited an article entitled \"Observation of hypervalent CLi6\u00a0by Knudsen-effusion mass spectrometry\" by Kudo as a amongst the earliest of evidence that such species can exist (in the gas phase). It was a spectacular vindication of the earlier\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hypervalency&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hypervalency","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"Click for  3D","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/CLi6-Lp.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2599,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=2599","url_meta":{"origin":15823,"position":2},"title":"Hypervalency: Is it real?","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"October 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Wikipedia page on hypervalent compounds reveals that the concept is almost as old as that of normally valent compounds. The definition there, \u00a0is \"a molecule that contains one or more\u00a0main group elements formally bearing more than eight\u00a0electrons in their\u00a0valence shells\" (although it could equally apply to e.g. transition elements\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hypervalency&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hypervalency","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/IH7.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19073,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=19073","url_meta":{"origin":15823,"position":3},"title":"Hypervalence and octet-expansion in sulfur hexafluoride.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"November 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Following on from discussing octet expansion in species such as SeMe6, ClMe3 and ClMe5, I felt impelled to return to SF6, often used as an icon for hypervalence. With this molecule we have twelve electrons to partition, six from sulfur and one each from six fluorines (the other six electrons\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hypervalency&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hypervalency","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/SF6-HIOMO-17-1024x885.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19307,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=19307","url_meta":{"origin":15823,"position":4},"title":"Are diazomethanes hypervalent molecules? An attempt into more insight by more &#8220;tuning&#8221; with substituents.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"December 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Recollect the suggestion\u00a0that diazomethane has hypervalent character. When I looked into this, I came to the conclusion that it probably was mildly hypervalent, but on carbon and not nitrogen. Here I try some variations with substituents to see what light if any this casts. I have expanded the resonance forms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hypervalency&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hypervalency","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/H2CNCCN_ELF-1024x258.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19499,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=19499","url_meta":{"origin":15823,"position":5},"title":"Never mind main group &#8220;hypervalency&#8221;, what about transition metal &#8220;hypervalency&#8221;?","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"March 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I have posted often on the chemical phenomenon known as hypervalency, being careful to state that as defined it applies just to \"octet excess\" in main group elements. But what about the next valence shell, occurring in transition metals and known as the \"18-electron rule\"? You rarely hear the term\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hypervalency&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hypervalency","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/NiPP-987x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"authors":[{"term_id":2661,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"admin","display_name":"Henry Rzepa","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/897b6740f7f599bca7942cdf7d7914af5988937ae0e3869ab09aebb87f26a731?s=96&d=blank&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15823"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18645,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15823\/revisions\/18645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15823"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=15823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}