Textbook question 2.57

[906168748]

The question states Acetonitrile, CH3CN, is used as a solvent in the pharmaceutical industry. Describe the structure of the CH3CN molecule in terms of hybrid orbitals, bond angles, and sigma and pi bonds. The N atom is a terminal atom.I determined that the central C atom had a tetrahedral arrangement with the 3 hydrogens and the other carbon with a single bond each and that the nitrogen is triple-bonded to the outer carbon. Knowing this, how would you describe the sigma and pi bonds in this structure, specifically the pi bonds on the triple bond between carbon and nitrogen.

[Nicole Coulter]

There would be 2 pi bonds between carbon and nitrogen because they would both have 2p orbitals that are not hybridized due to there hybridization being sp (because they both only have two regions of electron density), this would mean that one bond exists between there sp orbitals, and 2 bonds between two unhybridized 2p orbitals. For the book problem I think you can describe this 1 sigma bond, 2 pi bonds, hope this helps!