How many bonding orbitals are there in #PCl_3#?

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1 Answer
Chuck W.
Mar 19, 2014

#PCl_3# has three bonding orbitals.

There is a total of 26 valence electrons in this molecule, 5 on #P# and 7 on each #Cl# atom. Three of the #sp^3# hybrid orbitals on #P# overlap with one #p# orbital on each #Cl# atom to form three bonding orbitals (occupied) and three anti-bonding orbitals (unoccupied).

The fourth #sp^3# hybrid orbital on #P# is a doubly occupied non-bonding orbital, as are the remaining #p# orbitals on the three #Cl# atoms.

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