2.61 Radicals

[Valerie Doan 3I]

When drawing the Lewis structure, which atom gets the unpaired electron? For textbook problem 2.61, it asks us to draw the Lewis structure for HOCO. I did it differently and I put C in the middle and the three other atoms around. The O got the unpaired electron. However, the textbook answer shows a different structure. Is mine technically correct?

[Mohamed Mido]

I think the correct way is to have the unpaired electron on the Carbon because that way it has a neutral formal charge, while if you place it on one of the Oxygens it will expand their octet and they will end up with a negative formal charge, which is not the most stable structure.