Chemical Bonding: CF₂Cl₂ Lewis Structure

Drawing the Lewis Structure for CF₂Cl₂ (Dichlorodifluoromethane)

Viewing Notes:

• The Lewis structure for CF₂Cl₂ is similar to CF₄ or CCl₄. The difference is that you have both Cl and F. Since they are in the same Group on the periodic table they each have the same number of electrons (7).
• For the CF₂Cl₂ Lewis structure there are a total of 32 valence electrons available.

Transcript: Hi, this is Dr. B. We're going to do the Lewis structure for CF2Cl2, dichlorodifluoromethane. Let's start out by looking at the periodic table. Carbon's in group 4, so it has 4 valence electrons. Fluorine, group 7, sometimes called 17, but we have two of those so let's multiply that times 2. Plus Chlorine is in group 7, and then we've got two of those, as well. If you add that up you have a total of 32 valence electrons to work with. Let's take and draw this. We'll put Carbon, the least electronegative, right at the center. And then let's put Fluorines on either side, make it symmetrical here. And then we'll put Chlorines on the other side. So there you go, that is the skeleton of this thing.

And we're going to put some electrons around each of the atoms. Let's put two here, two here, two here, and two here. We've used eight. We've formed chemical bonds there. Now let's do the outside. So we have 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, and 32. And that's really nice because we have 32 that we started with. Let's check and see if we have full octets here. So Carbon needs 8 and Carbon does have 8. And then each of these other ones right here has 8 as well, so it has an octet or a full outer shell. And we've only used 32 valence electrons like we started with.

That is the Lewis structure for CF2Cl2. You could also draw it like this right here as a structural formula, and you'll see that sometimes, as well. This is Dr. B., thank you for watching.