Organic Chemistry (8th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321768418
ISBN 13: 978-0-32176-841-4

Chapter 1 - Introduction and Review - Problems - Page 13: Problem 1-6 b

Answer

Nitrogen forms 3 bonds to have a formal charge of 0. But Nitrogen has 4 bonds so the formal is +1. Chlorine has 8 electrons so its formal charge is -1. The overall charge is 0 because the positive charge of $NH_{4}$ and the negative charge of chlorine get canceled.

Work Step by Step

Formal Charge (FC) = [number of valence electrons] - [number of non-bonding electrons] - 12 [shared electrons] FC (nitrogen) = 5-0-4 = +1 FC (chlorine) = 7-8-0 = -1 FC (hydrogen) = 1-0-1 = 0
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