i need help with my chemistry HW. it working w/ molecular geometry.please help!!?

Question

the question is as followed:
predict the molecular geometry of ClNO, N is the centeral atom.

how do i set it up? any help would highly be appricated.

Answer 1

From the electronic arrangement of the 3 elements involved here, the Cl and O are bonding to the N. Nitrogen is pretty spiffy with bonding options, and wants to fill its 2-level orbitals with 8 electrons. It has 5. It can share 2 with oxygen by double bonding, which makes oxygen very happy. It can pick up more more by a single bond with the chlorine, which makes the chlorine happy.

To do this, nitrogen goes to its play-book and notices that a double bond requires a hybrid orbital arrangement called sp2. This is a combination of the 2s and 2 of the 3 p2 orbitals.
The third p2 orbital will be used "as is". In space, the sp2 orbital is planar (on a plane), while the p2 orbital sticks above and below the plane. One of the sp2 orbitals will overlap an oxygen sp2 orbital (what's good for the nitrogen is good for oxygen), the oxygen will share an electron with the nitrogen viaa the p2 orbital. The nitrogen will bond with chlorine with a second sp2 orbital. The last one is unused, and contains 2 electrons.

Moral: you need to know the "usual suspects" when it comes to hybrid orbitals, and the way the bonds will set up to keep the atoms happy. I hope that you are happy, too.

Answer 2

first, you have to know how many shared pairs there are.

shared pairs=1/2 (electrions required - valence electrons)

so SP=1/2(24-28)=3

so it's either
Cl-N=O
or
Cl=N-O
(add the lone pair electrons so each atom has 8 electrons assigned to it)
to choose the best one you have to assign formal charges
Cl-N=O has a formal charge of +2
or
Cl=N-O has a formal charge of 0 so it is the better structure-- but you dont' need that info.

Cl=N-O the N has to have 1 lone pair of electrons to complete it's octet

the molecule is AX2E which is bent
(x2 = 2 Electron regions, E= one lone electron pair)
w/ angles ~120 degrees