Best Overview: XeCl4 Molecular Geometry - Science Education and Tutorials

Q: What is the molecular notation for XeCl4 molecule?

XeCl4 molecular notation is AX4N2.

Xenon tetrachloride(XeCl4) has the composition of one xenon and three chlorine atoms. What is the molecular geometry of xenon tetrachloride?. Drawing and predicting the XeCl4 molecular geometry is very easy by following the given method. Here in this post, we described step by step to construct XeCl4 molecular geometry. Chlorine and xenon come from the 17th and 18th family groups in the periodic table. Chlorine and xenon have seven and eight valence electrons respectively.

Table of Contents

Key Points To Consider When drawing The XeCl4 Molecular Geometry

A three-step approach for drawing the XeCl4 molecular can be used. The first step is to sketch the molecular geometry of the XeCl4 molecule, to calculate the lone pairs of the electron in the central xenon atom; the second step is to calculate the XeCl4 hybridization, and the third step is to give perfect notation for the XeCl4 molecular geometry.

The XeCl4 molecular geometry is a diagram that illustrates the number of valence electrons and bond electron pairs in the XeCl4 molecule in a specific geometric manner. The geometry of the XeCl4 molecule can then be predicted using the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Theory (VSEPR Theory) and molecular hybridization theory, which states that molecules will choose the XeCl4 geometrical shape in which the electrons have from one another in the specific molecular structure.

Finally, you must add their bond polarities characteristics to compute the strength of the Xe-Cl bond (dipole moment properties of the XeCl4 molecular geometry). The xenon-chlorine bonds in the xenon tetrachloride(XeCl4), for example, are polarised toward the more electronegative value chlorine atom, and because all (Xe-Cl) bonds have the same size and polarity, their sum is zero due to the XeCl4 molecule’s bond dipole moment due to it oppose to each other in the square planar geometry, and the XeCl4 molecule is classified as a polar molecule.

The molecule of xenon tetrachloride (with square planar shape XeCl4 molecular geometry) is tilted at 90 degrees. It has a difference in electronegativity values between xenon and chlorine atoms, with chlorine’s pull the electron cloud being greater than xenon’s. As a result, it has no permanent dipole moment in its molecular structure. The XeCl4 molecule has no dipole moment due to an equal charge distribution of negative and positive charges.

Overview: XeCl4 electron and molecular geometry

According to the VSEPR theory, XeCl4 possesses square planar molecular geometry. Because the center atom, xenon, has three Xe-Cl bonds with the chlorine atoms surrounding it. The Cl-Xe-Cl bond angle is 90 degrees in the square planar molecular geometry. The XeCl4 molecule has a square planar geometry shape because it contains four chlorine atoms.

There are four Xe-Cl bonds at the XeCl4 molecular geometry. After linking the four chlorine atoms and two lone pairs of electrons in the square planar form, it maintains the planar-like structure. In the XeCl4 molecular geometry, the Xe-Cl bonds have stayed in the four terminals and two lone pairs of electrons in the top and bottom of the square planar molecule.

The center xenon atom of XeCl4 has two lone pairs of electrons, resulting in square planar electron geometry. However, the molecular geometry of XeCl4 looks like a square planar and two lone pairs on the top and bottom of the XeCl4 geometry. It’s the XeCl4 molecule’s symmetrical geometry. As a result, the XeCl4 molecule is nonpolar.

How to find XeCl4 hybridization and molecular geometry

Calculating lone pairs of electrons on xenon in the XeCl4 geometry:

1.Determine the number of lone pairs on the core xenon atom of the XeCl4 Lewis structure. Because the lone pairs on xenon are mostly responsible for the XeCl4 molecule geometry distortion, we need to calculate out how many there are on the central xenon atom of the Lewis structure.

Use the formula below to find the lone pair on the xenon atom of the XeCl4 molecule.
L.P(Xe) = V.E(Xe) – N.A(Xe-Cl)/2

Lone pair on the central xenon atom = L.P(Xe)
The core central xenon atom’s valence electron = V.E(Xe)
Number of Xe-Cl bonds = N.A (Xe-Cl)
calculation for xenon atom lone pair in XeCl4 molecule

For instance of XeCl4, the central atom, xenon, has five electrons in its outermost valence shell, four Xe-Cl bond connections.

As a result of this, L.P(Xe) = (8 –4)/2=2

In the XeCl4 electron geometry structure, the lone pair on the central xenon atom is two. It means there are two lone pairs of electrons in the core xenon atom. These lone pairs of electrons on the central xenon atom are responsible for the XeCl4 molecular geometry distortion.

If you imagine, there is two lone pair on the xenon atom of the XeCl4 molecule. Then, electronic repulsion of Xe-Cl bonds pair and two lone pair of electrons in the XeCl4. That gives stable square planar geometry. The lone pairs of electrons are located on the top and bottom of the geometry. It makes a stable square planar structure.

But in reality, the XeCl4 molecule undergoes distortion in its geometry due to the polarity of the Xe-Cl bond and lone pairs of electrons in the square planar geometry. This leads to a square planar for the XeCl4 molecule.

Calculate the number of molecular hybridizations of the XeCl4 molecule

What is XeCl4 hybrizidation? This is a very fundamental question in the field of molecular chemistry. All the molecules made by atoms. In chemistry, atoms are the fundamental particles. There are four different types of orbitals in chemistry. They are named as s, p, d, and f orbitals.

The entire periodic table arrangement are based on these orbital theory. Atoms in the periodic table are classified as follows:

s- block elements
p- block elements
d-block elements
f-block elements
Atoms are classified in the periodic table

XeCl4 molecule is made of one xenon and four chlorine atoms. The xenon atom has s, p, and d orbitals. Chlorine comes as the first element from the halogen family in the periodic table. The chlorine atom has s and p orbitals.

When these atoms combine to form the XeCl4 molecule, its atomic orbitals mixed and form unique molecular orbitals due to hybridization.

How do you find the XeCl4 molecule’s hybridization? We must now determine the molecular hybridization number of XeCl4.

The formula of XeCl4 molecular hybridization is as follows:
No. Hyb of XeCl4= N.A(Xe-Cl bonds) + L.P(Xe)
No. Hy of XeCl4= the number of hybridizations of XeCl4
Number of Xe-Cl bonds = N.A (Xe-Cl bonds)
Lone pair on the central xenon atom = L.P(Xe)
Calculation for hybridization number for XeCl4 molecule

In the XeCl4 molecule, xenon is a core central atom with four chlorine atoms connected to it and two lone pairs of electrons. The number of XeCl4 hybridizations (No. Hyb of XeCl4) can then be estimated using the formula below.

No. Hyb of XeCl4= 4+2 =6

The XeCl4 molecule hybridization is six. Xenon atom has s, p, and d orbitals. The chlorine atom has s and p orbital. The sp3d2 hybridization of the XeCl4 molecule is formed when one S orbital, three p orbital, and two d orbitals join together to form a molecular orbital.

Molecular Geometry Notation for XeCl4 Molecule :

Determine the form of XeCl4 molecular geometry using VSEPR theory. The AXN technique is commonly used when the VSEPR theory is used to calculate the shape of the XeCl4 molecule.

The AXN notation of XeCl4 molecule is as follows:
The center xenon atom in the XeCl4 molecule is denoted by the letter A.
The bound pairs (four Xe-Cl bonds) of electrons to the core xenon atom are represented by X.
The lone pairs of electrons on the central xenon atom are denoted by the letter N.
Notation for XeCl4 molecular geometry

We know that xenon is the core atom, with four electron pairs bound (four Xe-Cl) and two lone pair of electrons. The general molecular geometry formula for XeCl4 is AX4N2.

According to the VSEPR theory, if the XeCl4 molecule has an AX4N2 generic formula, the molecular geometry and electron geometry will both be square planar forms.

Name of Molecule	Xenon tetrachloride
Chemical molecular formula	XeCl4
Molecular geometry of XeCl4	square planar
Electron geometry of XeCl4	square planar
Hybridization of XeCl4	sp3d2
Bond angle (Cl-Xe-Cl)	90º degree
Total Valence electron for XeCl4	36
The formal charge of XeCl4 on xenon	0

Summary:

In this post, we discussed the method to construct XeCl4 molecular geometry, the method to find the lone pairs of electrons in the central xenon atom, XeCl4 hybridization, and XeCl4 molecular notation. Need to remember that, if you follow the above-said method, you can construct the XeCl4 molecular structure very easily.