Examples of

Chemical Bonds
Everything in the world around us is made up of
atoms, which are tiny pieces of matter. Different
atoms stick together to form all kinds of things in
the world. A chemical bond is formed when two or
more atoms are attracted to each other and form
a chemical compound.

How Chemical Bonds Form

Atoms stick together because of chemical
attraction, meaning that various types of atoms
are attracted to each other and come together in
a bond. This attraction is created because of the
electrostatic force caused by the attraction
between electrons and nuclei.
There are various types of chemical bonds
including:

Ionic Bonds
Covalent Bonds
Dative Bonds
Network Covalent Bonds

Ionic Bonds
One type of chemical bond is an ionic bond. Ionic
bonds are formed by the electrostatic attraction
of atoms that have opposite charges. An ion is an
atom that has gained or lost one or more of its
electrons in its outer shell, therefore giving the
atom either a positive or negative charge.
Ionic bonds are typically formed between one
metallic and one nonmetallic atom.

Sodium chloride, or NaCl, is an example of an

ionic bond.
Another example of an ionic bond is found in
lithium fluoride (LiF). Lithium has one electron
in its outer shell, and fluorine has seven
electrons in its outer shell. In this situation an
electron will be traded so that the outer shell of
the lithium is full with eight electrons.
Ionic bonds are created because atoms want to
have their outer shells full of electrons; so, when
an atom has an outer shell that is not full, it will
be attracted to other atoms that have extra
electrons.

Covalent Bonds
A covalent bond is formed when two atoms with
electronegativities share their electrons, rather

than trading them as happens in ionic bonds. Two

hydrogen atoms can share an electron to form the
molecule H2, and they are joined by a single
covalent bond.

A double covalent bond is found in ethylene

(C2H4), because two sets of valence electrons
are shared.
A triple covalent bond is seen in atomic
nitrogen (N2).

Dative Bond
A dative bond, also called a coordinate covalent
bond, is created when one atom gives both
electrons needed to form a single covalent bond.

This can be seen with ammonium (NH4+).

Nitrogen contributes the two electrons needed
to bond with hydrogen and therefore form the
ammonium with a dative bond.
It can also be seen with hydronium (H3O+). In
a water molecule, the oxygen atom gives a pair
of electrons to create a dative bond with a
hydrogen ion, thus forming the hydronium.

Network Covalent Bond

Sometimes elements will form covalent bonds

over and over in a material, repeating the same
structure to form very large molecules. When this
occurs, the bonds formed are described as a
network covalent.

An example of this is seen in diamonds.

Carbon bonds to itself, with each carbon atom
forming four covalent bonds to four other
carbon atoms. This forms one large molecule
that is a diamond crystal.
Silicates, which are found in quartz, sand, and
many other minerals, also bond together in
network covalent bonds.
There are several different kinds of chemical
bonds that can form; but, the similarity between
all of them is the attraction of two atoms.
THE RULES
Lewis ("electron dot") Structures

1. Consult the molecular formula and sum up all

the valence electrons from the separate atoms. The
Group number in the Periodic Table = the number of
valence electrons for an atom.
a. Add one for each (-) charge (extra electron);
b. Subtract one for each (+) charge (missing
electron).

c. For example:
CH3NH2 = 5(1) + 4 + 5 = 14 ePOCl3 = 5 + 6 + 3(7) = 32 eNO3- = 5 + 3(6) + 1 = 24 e2. Choose the central atom(s).
a. Almost always the least electronegative atom is
the central atom.
b. For example, in ClO2, the Cl is the central atom;
in SF5 the S is the central atom.
c. Occasionally, you will need to choose the unique
atom, even when it is the most
electronegative: e.g., the O in Cl2O.
d. A wrong choice usually will be signaled by your
being unable to write a valid structure.
Arrange the other atoms around the central atom, in
accord with the normal valences of the atoms. That is,
do not place more atoms around a central one than it
normally can bond to.
e. For first and second row elements, the maximum
valence = the Group number through Group IV;
after that, it is 8 - (the Group number).

f. The difference is that up through IV, the atoms

tend to donate electrons to get an octet, whereas
beyond IV, they accept electrons.
g. Recognition of exceptions will come with
experience.
h. You may find that you will have to place fewer
atoms than normal around a central one; this is
taken care of later.
Hydrogen never is the central atom. It forms only one
bond, so it must generally be in the outer layer of
atoms. Therefore, place hydrogen atoms last.
o Insert pairs of electrons between all pairs of
atoms that are to be bonded together. If this uses
up all available electrons, go to Rule 6.

o Place any remaining electrons on peripheral

atoms as unshared pairs, starting with the most
electronegative such atom.
a. Fill this atom up to an octet.
b. Then proceed to the next most electronegative,
and so on.

c. Remember that hydrogens can only have two

electrons, and so cannot have any unshared
pairs.
o If electrons still remain unused, place them on
the central atoms as unshared pairs, again
beginning with the most electronegative atom. Fill
that atom to an octet. Then proceed to the next
most electronegative, and so on.
By application of Rules 4 and 5, the structures of our
examples become:

o Examine the resulting structure. You will observe

one of five situations:
a. All of the atoms in the structure will have octets,
except the hydrogens, which will have two
electrons each. Go to Rule 7.
b. The central atom is a Be with 4 electrons, or a B
or Al with 6. These elements do not obey the
octet rule. Go to Rule 7.

c. The molecule has an odd number of electrons,

which results in one of the central atoms having
only 7 electrons. Go to Rule 7.
d. The central atom has Z > 11, and has other than
an octet. Go to Rule 7.
e. The central atom is C, N, or O and
i.

the number of electrons in the molecule is

even and the central atom lacks an octet; or

ii.

the number of electrons in the molecule is

odd and the central atom has fewer than 7
electrons.
In either case, move an unshared pair from a
peripheral atom to make a double bond to
the central atom. If the central atom still has
too few electrons, move another pair from
the same atom to make a triple bond, or a
pair from another atom to make a second
double bond.
When this action can be taken in more than
one way, write all possible ways as separate
structures. You have discovered resonance;
the actual structure is a hybrid of all of the
individual structures.

Our two remaining example structures thus

beco

b. Examine every atom in the structure and assign it

a formal charge as follows:
formal charge = (number of valence electrons on the
neutral, uncombined atom) - (number of covalent
bonds to the atom in the current structure) - (the
number of unshared electrons [not pairs] on the atom
in the current structure)
a. When counting covalent bonds, count double
bonds (two pairs of electrons) as 2 and triple
bonds (three pairs of electrons) as 3.
b. The sum of all formal charges of all atoms must
equal the given charge on the molecule or ion.
c. No unreasonable charges should result from this
process. That is, electronegative atoms should
not get two (+) charges, metals should not get (-)
charges, and so on. If this happens, you surely

have done something wrong. Go back to Rule 1

and start over.
d. If you get a lot of non-zero formal charges in a
molecule that is neutral overall, you probably
have misplaced the hydrogens. Go back to Rule
2.
For example, for the O in POCl3, we have:
6 - (1 covalent bond) - (6 unshared electrons) = -1
whereas for the P:
5 - (4 covalent bonds) - (0 unshared electrons) = +1
The full set of formal charges for the example
molecules is shown on the structures above.
c. Rules 1-7 may allow some collections of atoms to
form several valid structures with differing
arrangements of atoms. This is OK; the
alternative arrangements of atoms are
called isomers. Isomers are particularly common
among compounds of C, N, and O. For example,
two isomeric Lewis structures can be written for
C2H6O and four can be written for HCNO.
d. Although four of the five cases in Rule 6 require
no alteration of the structure, each case
represents a normal bonding condition for the
atoms involved. The Octet Rule actually applies

only to C, N, O, and F. Bonding conditions

unusual with respect to the Octet Rule will be
found to be perfectly satisfactory if the orbital
interactions are considered instead of forcing the
molecule to use electron pair bonds.
e.

Application of Rule 1-7 also may lead to multiple

structures having the same arrangement of
atoms but different placement of electrons. This
is OK too. These are resonance structures: the
molecule actually resembles an average of all of
the structures rather than any single one. Like the
cases in Rule 9, these also will go away when we
consider orbital interactions.