Radical Placement for Lewis Diagrams

[Anna Hilger 3H]

For problem 2.61 from the textbook, it asks us to draw the Lewis structure for HOCO which ends up being a radical. The answer has the radical on the carbon instead of the oxygen, but wouldn't you want it on the oxygen so it has less of a formal charge?

[Michelle_Duong_3H]

Hello,

When drawing Lewis structures, the central atom can have variable numbers of electrons while non-central atoms like F and O always follow the octet rule. I don't believe that formal charge will play a role in determining where the lone electron would go. Thus in this example, the single electron would end up on the carbon.

Hope this helps!