Tetrahedral vs. square-planar
Moderators: Chem_Mod, Chem_Admin
Tetrahedral vs. square-planar
What is the difference between tetrahedral and square-planar complexes?
-
- Posts: 62
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:19 am
Re: Tetrahedral vs. square-planar
a tetrahedral has 4 regions of electron density, while a square planar has six. A square planar is made up a 2D tetrahedral with a pair of lone pairs are at each end.
-
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:24 am
Re: Tetrahedral vs. square-planar
A tetrahedral molecule has 4 regions of electron density, all of which are bonded, giving it the VSEPR formula AX4. All of the bond angles are 109.5 degrees for tetrahedral molecules. On the other hand, a square planar molecule has 6 regions of electron density, giving it an octahedral electron-pair geometry, but it has a VSEPR formula of AX4E2 because of its four bonded pairs and two lone pairs on the central atom. The bond angles for square planar molecules are 90 and 180 degrees.
-
- Posts: 30
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:28 am
Re: Tetrahedral vs. square-planar
Tetrahedral uses the notation AX4 while square planar is AX4E2. This means that tetrahedral has 4 bonds to the center atom. Square planar has 4 bonds and 2 lone pair on the center atom.
-
- Posts: 32
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:28 am
Re: Tetrahedral vs. square-planar
The square planar has six areas of electron density surrounding the central atom: four of these are other bonded atoms and two are lone pairs. Tetrahedral will have angles of 109.5 where the square planar will have angles of 90.
-
- Posts: 60
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:27 am
Re: Tetrahedral vs. square-planar
When we are talking about the electron configuration and not the actual shape, tetrahedral shape is under the tetrahedral class of electron configuration, meaning it has 4 areas of electron density. Square planar is under the octahedral class of electron configuration, meaning it has 6 areas of electron density. When the shape is square planar, it just means that the octahedral configuration has 4 bound atoms and 2 lone pairs.
-
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:24 am
Re: Tetrahedral vs. square-planar
What is the difference between tetrahedral and square planar in terms of coordination compounds? I know that for square planar there are four ligands at the corners of a square, but I am unsure of how to discern it from the tetrahedral ligand coordination complex.
Return to “Shape, Structure, Coordination Number, Ligands”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests