Octet rule

The octet rule is a chemical rule of thumb that reflects observation that elements tend to bond in such a way that each atom has eight electrons in its valence shell, giving it the same electronic configuration as a noble gas. The rule is especially applicable to carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and the halogens, but also to metals such as sodium or magnesium.During the formation of a chemical bond, atoms combine together by gaining, losing or sharing electrons in such a way that they acquire nearest noble gas configuration. The octet rule is a chemical rule of thumb that reflects observation that elements tend to bond in such a way that each atom has eight electrons in its valence shell, giving it the same electronic configuration as a noble gas. The rule is especially applicable to carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and the halogens, but also to metals such as sodium or magnesium. The valence electrons can be counted using a Lewis electron dot diagram as shown at the right for carbon dioxide. The electrons shared by the two atoms in a covalent bond are counted twice, once for each atom. In carbon dioxide each oxygen shares four electrons with the central carbon, two (shown in red) from the oxygen itself and two (shown in black) from the carbon. All four of these electrons are counted in both the carbon octet and the oxygen octet. Ionic bonding is common between pairs of atoms, where one of the pair is a metal of low electronegativity (such as sodium) and the second a nonmetal of high electronegativity (such as chlorine). A chlorine atom has seven electrons in its outer electron shell, the first and second shells being filled with two and eight electrons respectively. The first electron affinity of chlorine (the energy release when chlorine gains an electron) is -328.8 kJ per mole of chlorine atoms. Adding a second electron to chlorine requires energy, energy that cannot be recovered by the formation of a chemical bond. The result is that chlorine will very often form a compound in which it has eight electrons in its outer shell (a complete octet). A sodium atom has a single electron in its outermost electron shell, the first and second shells again being full with two and eight electrons respectively. To remove this outer electron requires only the first ionization energy, which is +495.8 kJ per mole of sodium atoms, a small amount of energy. By contrast, the second electron resides in the deeper second electron shell, and the second ionization energy required for its removal is much larger: +4562.4 kJ per mole. Thus sodium will, in most cases, form a compound in which it has lost a single electron and have a full outer shell of eight electrons, or octet. The energy required to transfer an electron from a sodium atom to a chlorine atom (the difference of the 1st ionization energy of sodium and the electron affinity of chlorine) is small: +495.8 − 328.8 = +167 kJ mol−1. This energy is easily offset by the lattice energy of sodium chloride: −787.3 kJ mol−1. This completes the explanation of the octet rule in this case. In 1864, the English chemist John Newlands classified the sixty-two known elements into eight groups, based on their physical properties. In the late 19th century it was known that coordination compounds (formerly called “molecular compounds”) were formed by the combination of atoms or molecules in such a manner that the valencies of the atoms involved apparently became satisfied. In 1893, Alfred Werner showed that the number of atoms or groups associated with a central atom (the “coordination number”) is often 4 or 6; other coordination numbers up to a maximum of 8 were known, but less frequent. In 1904 Richard Abegg was one of the first to extend the concept of coordination number to a concept of valence in which he distinguished atoms as electron donors or acceptors, leading to positive and negative valence states that greatly resemble the modern concept of oxidation states. Abegg noted that the difference between the maximum positive and negative valences of an element under his model is frequently eight. In 1916, Gilbert N. Lewis referred to this insight as Abegg's rule and used it to help formulate his cubical atom model and the 'rule of eight', which began to distinguish between valence and valence electrons. In 1919 Irving Langmuir refined these concepts further and renamed them the 'cubical octet atom' and 'octet theory'. The 'octet theory' evolved into what is now known as the 'octet rule'. Walther Kossel and Gilbert N. Lewis saw that noble gases did not have the tendency of taking part in chemical reactions under ordinary conditions. On the basis of this observation they concluded that atoms of noble gases are stable and on the basis of this conclusion they proposed a theory of valency known as 'Electronic Theory of valency' in 1916: