breaking the octet

[Clarissa Nava 3H]

are atoms such as phosphorus, sulfur, and chlorine atom who can break the octet rule?

[kateminden]

Yes, period three elements (and those in higher periods) such as phosphorous, sulfur, and chlorine can accommodate more than 8 electrons because they have expanded valence shells (their d-orbitals can hold more electrons).

[Anna O 2C]

Adding to the last reply, they can expand into their d orbitals because at row 3 the 3s and 3p also include 3d even though it's in the 4th row.

[205458163]

In my opinion, they are not breaking the octet rule. The reason that they can have more than 8 electrons is they have the d shell, which can contain more electrons.

[David Zhang 1B]

Those atoms have a d-orbital that can be filled after the s and p orbitals have been filled, allowing them to break the octet rule.

[Yasmin Olvera 1D]

Yes I believe this applies to period 3 elements.

[Chem_Mod]

The octet rule is violated in compounds with more than eight electrons assigned to their valence shell. These are called expanded valence shell molecules. Such compounds are formed only by central atoms in the third row of the periodic table and beyond that have empty d orbitals in their valence shells that can participate in covalent bonding (includes phosphorus, sulfur, and chlorine).

[Bella Martin]

So if there were to be a limit to the amount of times an element with a d-orbital could bind, would it be 5 additional bondings on top of the octet because 10 total electrons are in the d orbital state?