SBr6 Lewis Structure: Drawings, Hybridization, Shape, Charges, Pair, And Detailed Facts

In this article, we are going to analyze the SBr6 lewis structure and various facts about it.

SBr6 or sulfur bromide is an inorganic compound which form by covalent bonding. So the bonding in sulfur bromide can be explained by the concept of lewis dot structure. So we will study SBr6 lewis structure in detail and various facts related to it in the following sections.

Some facts about SBr6

The observed molecular weight of sulfur bromide or sulfur hexabromide is around 511.5g.

It is one of the compounds of sulfur. We know that sulfur does not have any characteristics odor and also it is considered to be a very poor conductor of electricity and heat. It can exist in 3 allotropic forms namely rhombic sulfur, monoclonal sulfur, and plastic sulfur. The melting points of the allotropes are 112 degrees Celsius, 119 degrees Celsius respectively and there is no observed sharp melting point for plastic sulfur.

So it’s compounds would also exhibit somewhat similar kind of properties.

How to draw lewis structure for SBr6?

We must know the number of valence electrons in order to draw the structure. So the number of valence electrons in sulfur hexabromide: According to the formula there is one sulfur atom and six bromine atoms in the structure. 

The number of valence electrons in sulfur are 6 and in bromine, there are 7 (as there are six bromine atoms in the molecule, the number of valence electrons will be 7×6=42 electrons). So total number of valence electrons in the molecule will be 6+42=48 electrons.Now we have to identify the atom that has to be placed in the center, so the central atom is the one that has the least electronegativity.

In this molecule, sulfur will be the central atom, and the rest(bromine) atoms will be the surrounding ones. As we can see, the dots around the atoms represent the number of valence electrons.

So the dots are placed in a manner that it satisfies the valency of the bonding atoms. Hence in each bond fluorine and antimony both contribute one electron each and thus satisfy each others valency. As only one pair of electrons is involved in the formation of the bond the resulting bond is a single bond. We can see that there are more electrons with the sulfur atoms the reason is because it is an exception.

SBr6 Lewis Structure shape

Taking into account the SBr6 lewis structure shape, it has an octahedral shape.

So how can we say or conclude that it has an octahedral shape? In an octahedral type of geometry, one atom is at the center and six more atoms are attached to it. The observed bond angle in this kind of geometry is around 90 degrees. This octahedral geometry concept was developed by sir Alfred W. So we can say the coordination number of the central atom is 6.

octa
Image credit: Wikipedia

SBr6 Lewis structure formal charge

A formal charge on any atom is the difference in between number of valence electrons (includes every atom) and the associated number of electrons. It is assumed by formal charge that any electrons that are shared are shared equally between two bonding atoms. Formal charge is calculated by using the below formula:

formula 1

Where, the term V means number of valence electrons contributed by the atom (as though isolated from a molecule).

The term N means number of unbound (valence electrons) on an atom that is being considered of molecule.

The term B means the total number of electrons that are shared by bonds with the other atoms in molecule.

So, considering the molecule of SBr6, hence the formal charge on the entire molecule will be zero.

SBr6 Lewis structure lone pairs

A lone pair means pair of valence electrons which are not shared during the process of bonding.

They are meant to be found in outermost (electron) shell of the atoms. We can say that the number of lone pairs around any atom when added to the number of electrons participating in bonding equals to the number of valence electrons in the atom. The concept of lone pair is of VSEPR (valence shell electron repulsion theory). Coming to the molecule of SBr6 there is no lone pair present.

SBr6 hybridization

Hybridization is the concept/process of mixing the atomic orbitals in order to form new orbitals (hybrid) which have much different shape, energy.

(Hybrid orbital formation is possible when the atomic orbitals have comparable kind of energies). This formed (hybrid) orbitals can be used to explain properties like atomic bonding and geometry (molecular). The hybridization in  SBr6 molecule is sp3d2. At the ground state, there are two electrons in the 3s orbitals and three electrons in 3p orbitals. And then the new hybrid orbitals are formed with six bromine atoms.

SBr6 lewis structure resonance

6... 1

SBr6 Lewis structure octet rule

According to the octet rule, an atom wants to obtain a completely filled octet. Meaning there should be total 8 electrons present in the outermost shell. This is the reason Sulfur forms single bonds by sharing one electron pair each with 6 bromine atoms. But we can see there are more electrons with sulfur indicating this compound to be an exception.

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