Chemical Bonding: ICl₂^- Lewis Structure

Drawing the Lewis Structure for ICl₂^-

Viewing Notes:

• In the ICl₂^- Lewis structure Iodine (I) is the least electronegative atom and goes in the center of the Lewis structure.
• The ICl₂^- Lewis structure you'll need to put more than eight valence electrons on the Iodine atom.
• In the Lewis structure for ICl₂^- there are a total of 22 valence electrons.
• Be sure to put brackets and a -2 around the dot structure to show that ICl₁^- is an ion with negative one charge.

Transcript: This is the ICl2- Lewis structure. Iodine has 7 valence electrons. Chlorine has 7, as well, but there are two of those, and then we need to add an extra electron right there. That gives us a total of 22 valence electrons. Iodine is the least electronegative. We'll put that in the center. Put the Chlorines on either side. Then we'll put two electrons between atoms to form chemical bonds, that's 2, 4, and then around the outside, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16. So we've used 16. We have six left, so we'll have to put three pairs on this Iodine here. That's OK because Iodine is in group 4 and it can hold more than eight valence electrons. So we'll put two pairs up here and one down here.

So we've used all 22 valence electrons. The Chlorines, they have octets; and the Iodine, it's OK. It has more than eight, but being in period 4, that's fine. So this is the Lewis structure for ICl2-. If you check the formal charges, you'll note that there is a negative charge on the Iodine and the Chlorines both have a formal charge of zero. Since we do have a negative charge here, this negative charge makes sense. We should put brackets around this molecule to show that it is an ion. And we'll put our negative charge right there, and we're done.

That's the Lewis structure for ICl2-. This is Dr. B., and thanks for watching.