Question

Acetonitrile (CH3CN) is an important industrial chemical. Among other things, it is used to make plastic moldings, which have multiple uses, from car parts to Lego bricks. Which one of the following statements about acetonitrile is not correct?a. Acetonitrile has 16 valence electrons in its Lewis structure. b. Acetonitrile has one triple bond. c. Acetonitrile has one pair of nonbonding electrons. d. All atoms satisfy the octet rule in acetonitrile. e. One carbon atom and the nitrogen atom have nonzero formal charges.

Answer 1

Answer:

One carbon atom and the nitrogen atom have nonzero formal charges.

Explanation:

The compound Acetonitrile has sixteen valence electrons as is easily San from its structure. It contains a carbon nitrogen triple bond with a lone pair of electrons on nitrogen. All atoms satisfy the octet rule and there is no hyper valent atom in the molecule.

The formal charge an carbon and nitrogen is calculated as follows;

No. of valence electron on atom - [non bonded electrons + no. of bonds]

Therefore, for carbon and nitrogen, we have;

formal charge on carbon = 4 - (0 + 4) = 0

formal charge on nitrogen = 5 - (2 + 3) = 0

Hence carbon and nitrogen both possess zero formal charges.