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Which molecule obeys the octet rule?

Which should I choose, the octet rule or formal charge? Why?

  • When a central atom has d orbital and formal charge of each atom is as close to zero as possible, then making central atom have more than 8 electrons would never matter? What I'm saying is when I considered formal charges of atoms of an molecule and found the most stable structure which shows that the central atom has more than 8 electrons, then can I take this structure only because it has d orbital even if the central atom doesn't comply with the octet rule?

  • Answer:

    I'm not sure I understand your question, but the central atom can indeed have more than 8 electrons if its atomic number is greater than 10, and it is said to be because of the the available empty 3d orbitals.  Minimizing formal charge,  or minimizing the difference of formal charges, is just a working mechanism for figuring out when an octet is expanded; it doesn't really have theory behind it as far as I know.  Can you give an example of what you are asking?

Chris Fairley at Quora Visit the source

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