Incomplete Octets

[Amy Shimizu 1J]

How do you know which elements can have incomplete octets?

[Praveena Ratnavel - 1A]

I believe the main ones are Al and B (which both form sextets) and Be (which forms 2 bonds instead of the full 4).

[SofiaMammaro-1K]

Hydrogen, beryllium, and boron have too few electrons to form an octet. Hydrogen has only one valence electron and only one place to form a bond with another atom. Beryllium has only two valence atoms, and can form only electron pair bonds in two locations. Boron has three valence electrons.

[Alejandra Hernandez 2A]

Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, and boron will never have an octet because they are stable with fewer than 8 electrons. Hope this helped! :)

[Trisha Badjatia 2L]

Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, and boron will never have an octet because they are stable with fewer than 8 electrons. Hope this helped! :)

Hi! Do we know why that is? Also, can nitrogen have an incomplete octet along with some of the other early elements with an odd number of valence electrons? Thank you!

[Benicio Rivera 1F]

The number of electrons surrounding the central atom in a stable molecule is fewer than eight. odd-electron molecules: Molecules whose total number of valence electrons is an odd number. This is because their charge is more stable with fewer electrons so they have incomplete octets.