Homework question

[sarahtang4B]

Why does Xenon trioxide form double bonds with oxygen and have one lone pair instead of single bonds and a lone pair?

[Christopher Tran 1J]

Forming double bonds with oxygen allows the oxygen atoms to have a formal charge of zero, rather than -1 with single bonds.

[Vikramjeet Gill 1C]

Because you want the formal charges to be as close to zero as possible and the structure with the double bonds puts every element with a formal charge of zero. And Xenon will often have more than 8 valence electrons around it so it works out.

[Nicolette_Canlian_2L]

You want to check the formal charges of the atoms in the molecule, so that explains the bonding of xenon and fluorine in this example.

[Ronald Thompson 1F]

Formal charge.