Focus 2.57

[Jessica Luong 3K]

Acetonitrile, CH3CN, is used as a solvent in the pharmaceu- tical industry. Describe the structure of the CH3CN molecule in terms of hybrid orbitals, bond angles, and s- and p-bonds. The N atom is a terminal atom.

[Alexis Webb 2B]

When you draw out the Lewis structure, there will be a tetrahedral shape around one C atom and a linear shape on the other C atom. Then, you can determine the bond angles. For hybrid orbitals, you think about the number of bonding regions around the central atom you have. For tetrahedral, there are four, so it would be sp3. For linear, there are two bonding regions, so it would just be sp.

[LBacker_2E]

I'm confused, is this question asking you to write out the hybridizations for each sigma and pi bond like in 2.47 or is it asking for the hybridizations of the central atoms?

[Alexis Webb 2B]

It is asking for the hybrid orbitals for the central atoms.

[NRodgers_1C]

For this problem, I just drew out the Lewis structure then counted the regions of electron density on each central atom (both Carbons and the Nitrogen) to determine the hybrid orbitals. From there, I just used my knowledge of bond angles in relation to the VSEPR geometries and number of bonds to determine the bond angles and σ- and π-bonds.