Bond lengths

[SamanthaTolentino 3D]

Given expected bond lengths, how are we able to determine which bond character occur within those structures? For example these values are given and we are asked to choose the correct statements:


the carbon--oxygen bonds has overwhelmingly C--O bond character
the carbon--nitrogen bonds has overwhelmingly C--N bond character
the carbon--oxygen bonds has ample C==O bond character
the carbon--nitrogen bonds has overwhelmingly C==N bond character

How are we able to determine what type of bond character the bonds have?

[Stuti Pradhan 2J]

The closer the given bond length is to the measured length of the double or single bonds, the more it exhibits the character of that specific bond. For example, since the carbon-nitrogen bond is 136 pm, which is closer to the length of the carbon-nitrogen double bond (127 pm), it has more of the double bond character. The bond length of the carbon-oxygen bond is between the single and double bond lengths, so it does not have overwhelming character of either of the bonds, but it does have an ample carbon-oxygen double bond character (and ample carbon-oxygen single bond character for that matter, but that is not one of the answers).

Hope this helps!

[Jayden_Yamasaki_2J]

I think for this question you have to distinguish between "ample" and "overwhelmingly" and since the bond lengths that were given were not super close to any of the expected values, we can say that none of them are "overwhelmingly" one bond character over the other.