How many sigma and pi bonds are in allylcyanide?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Jul 6, 2016

I got:

  • #\mathbf(9)# #sigma# bonds
  • #\mathbf(3)# #pi# bonds

"Allyl" means there's a #"C"="C"# double bond that starts two atoms away from the pertinent functional group (rather than one atom away, which is "vinyl").

So, allyl cyanide is:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/

Or, drawn out in full:

Each single bond contains only one sigma (#sigma#) bond and nothing else, and thus, if you consider the skeletal structure without any pi (#pi#) bonds, you would get:

  • #\mathbf(3)# #"C"-"C"# #sigma# bonds
  • #\mathbf(1)# #"C"-"N"# #sigma# bond
  • #2+1+2 = \mathbf(5)# #"C"-"H"# #sigma# bonds

Now counting the #pi# bonds, we have (in addition to the #sigma# bonds we already counted) one #pi# bond for each double bond and two #pi# bonds for each triple bond.

Therefore, we have:

  • #\mathbf(1)# #"C"-"C"# #pi# bond
  • #\mathbf(2)# #"C"-"N"# #pi# bonds

So, we have a total of:

  • #\mathbf(9)# #sigma# bonds
  • #\mathbf(3)# #pi# bonds
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