Transition Metals Lewis Structures

[IsabelMurillo3K]

Hey guys!
For a couple of problems in the textbook, I noticed that there were some questions where the transition metal was the central atom in a Lewis structure, and I was wondering if anyone knew how to determine the number of valence electrons that a transition metal has? Thanks in advance!

[Simrah_Ahmed1J]

I'm not sure of the exact rules for determining how many valence electrons the transition metals can have, but I think that the transition metals can violate the octet rule quite often by using their d orbitals for bonding, so can often have more than 4 bonds as the central atom.

[Brandon Carris]

Yea im pretty sure you just have to go by the context of the question. To my knowledge, transition metal valence electrons can be kind of unpredictable because they can hold so many freaking valence electrons.

[Varsha Ravi 3E]

Like everyone else said, I think it depends on the question.