## hybridizing oxygen

$sp, sp^{2}, sp^{3}, dsp^{3}, d^{2}sp^{3}$

kevinchang_4I
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:17 am

### hybridizing oxygen

In question 2.45, there is an O with a double bond with C and 2 lone pairs. How do I hybridize the O?

Michael Nguyen 1E
Posts: 120
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: hybridizing oxygen

Since the oxygen has one double bond and two lone pairs, there are a total of three regions of electron density around it. Three regions of electron density correspond with an sp2 hybridization for the oxygen.

Kurtis Liang 3I
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: hybridizing oxygen

To find the hybridization of an atom, you need to find its steric number. The steric number is calculated by adding the number of atoms bonded to the central atom plus the number of lone pairs on the central atom. In this case, because oxygen has 1 carbon bonded to it + 2 lone pairs, its steric number is 3, giving it a sp2 hybridization.

Note: Double and triple bonds don't matter when determining hybridization, they all count as one.

nicole-2B
Posts: 103
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:18 am

### Re: hybridizing oxygen

Kurtis Liang 3I wrote:To find the hybridization of an atom, you need to find its steric number. The steric number is calculated by adding the number of atoms bonded to the central atom plus the number of lone pairs on the central atom. In this case, because oxygen has 1 carbon bonded to it + 2 lone pairs, its steric number is 3, giving it a sp2 hybridization.

Note: Double and triple bonds don't matter when determining hybridization, they all count as one.

Thank you for making this clear!!

Suraj Doshi 2G
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:15 am

### Re: hybridizing oxygen

The oxygen has three regions of electron density thus we can determine that it will have a hybridization of sp^2.

Junxi Feng 3B
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: hybridizing oxygen

Since the oxygen has two lone pairs and a double with another atom, it has a total of three bonding regions, and therefore it has a hybridization of sp2.