Problem 3.59 Part A

[Iris Shim 1E]

How come in the Lewis structure of ClO, why does chlorine only have 7 electrons? How come the octet rule does not have to be fulfilled with ClO?

[Shannon Wasley 2J]

Based on the periodic table, chlorine has seven valence electrons and oxygen has 6 electrons which is equal to 13 valence electrons, illustrating a violation of the octet rule, since it is an odd number of valence electrons. Therefore, chlorine would be without an 8th valence electrons, since there are not enough to fill both oxygen and chlorine.

[Iris Shim 1E]

But how is this molecule able to exist in the first place?

[Bansi Amin 1D]

Isn't ClO an anion?

[Rana YT 2L]

The ion is able to exist only because the extra electron becomes part of another bond