What is the Lewis structure of OCN-?

1 Answer
Nov 30, 2015

#O=C=N^(-) harr ^(-)O-C-=N#?

Explanation:

Valence electrons #=# #6_O+4_C+5_N+1# #=# #16#. Thus there are 8 electron pairs to distribute over 3 centres. Two resonance structures are avalaible as shown; since oxygen is more electronegative than nitrogen the one on the right might be a better representation of molecular structure.