How many bonding orbitals are there in PCl_3?

1 Answer
Chuck W.
Mar 19, 2014

PCl_3 has three bonding orbitals.

There is a total of 26 valence electrons in this molecule, 5 on P and 7 on each Cl atom. Three of the sp^3 hybrid orbitals on P overlap with one p orbital on each Cl atom to form three bonding orbitals (occupied) and three anti-bonding orbitals (unoccupied).

The fourth sp^3 hybrid orbital on P is a doubly occupied non-bonding orbital, as are the remaining p orbitals on the three Cl atoms.

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