Radicals

[VZX]

What are radicals and how do you identify them from the lewis structure?

[Kaya L]

Radicals are molecules that have one or more unpaired electrons. Radicals are unstable and highly reactive. In a Lewis structure, they would look like a single electron instead of a lone pair. For example, on a Nitrogen Lewis structure, you would have 5 valence electrons, with one electron unpaired.

[Kelly Bui 2I]

Radicals have a lone atom that is unpaired. An example in class was the methyl radical, CH3. It has 7 valence electrons and when you draw the Lewis structure, there is one lone atom that is unpaired, where normally you would have lone pairs with 2 electrons each.

[Ryan Lafferty 1L]

Radicals are highly reactive, due to the fact that they have one unpaired lone electron rather than the traditional lone pair of two electrons.

[Caitlin Beale 3E]

A radical is an electron that appears in a lewis structure without a lone pair. It is when there is an odd number of valence electrons.

[Irene Kim 3E]

Radicals can typically be identified from how many valence electrons they have; other atoms will have an even number of valence electrons because they bond in pairs, but radicals will have an odd number. It also helps to draw out the Lewis structures and count the number of electrons bonded to each atom to find where the radical electron is located.

[Brooklyn Burgess 3L]

Radicals contain unpaired electrons. They are highly reactive. -OH radicals damage DNA because they react with it which produces cancer.

[cnyland]

They have one unpaired electron, I usually find it easiest to determine them by drawing out the lewis structure and if there is one unpaired electron, you can assume it is a radical.

[Amanda Pineda 3H]

Radicals have an uneven amount of electrons and these compounds are seen to be very unstable.