Silicon Tetrachloride (SiCl4) Lewis Structure and Steps of Drawing (2024)

Silicon tetrachloride (SiCl₄) is aninorganic volatile compound at room temperature.There are four chlorine atoms and one silicon atom in SiCl₄ molecule. Lewis structure of SiCl₄contains four Si-Cl bonds. Silicon atom is located as the center atom and each chlorine atom has 3 lone pairs in their valenceshell. We will learn how to draw the lewis structure of SiCl₄ step by step in this tutorial.

SiCl₄ lewis structure

According to the lewis structure of SiCl₄, you can see how chlorine atoms are connected with center atom,silicon. There areonly single bonds between chlorine atoms and silicon atom. As well, there are no charges on atoms and SiCl₄ does not havean overall charge. Each chlorine atom has three lone pairs in their valence shells and silicon atom does not have lone pairs in it's valence shell.

Silicon tetrachloride (CCl₄)

Silicon tetrachloride is a volatile liquid inorganic compound. In the presence of water, it decomposes to hydrochloric acid.

Steps of drawing lewis structure of SiCl₄

There are several steps to complete the lewis structure of SiCl₄. Each step of drawing is explained in detail in this tutorial.

1. Find total number of electrons of the valance shells of silicon atom and chlorine atoms
2. Determine total electrons pairs as lone pairs and bonds
3. Find center atom and draw basic skeletal structure
4. Mark lone pairs on atoms
5. Mark charges on atoms if there are charges.
6. Check the stability and minimize charges on atoms by converting lone pairs to bonds to obtain bestlewis structure.

Total number of electrons of the valance shells of SiCl₄

There are only two elements in SiCl₄ molecule; silicon and chlorine.

• Chlorine is a group VIIA element in the periodic table and contains 7 electrons in its last shell.
• Silicon atom has 4 electrons in its last shell because it is a IV group element. Now we know how many electrons are included invalence shells of each atom.

• valence electrons given by silicon atom = 4 * 1 = 4
• valence electrons given by chlorine atoms = 7 * 4 = 28

• Total valence electrons = 4 + 28 = 32

Total valence electrons pairs

Total valance electronspairs = σ bonds + π bonds + lone pairs at valence shells

Total electron pairs are determined by dividing the number total valence electrons by two. For,SiCl₄, total pairs of electrons are 16 (32/2) in their valence shells.

Center atom selection and draw basic skeletal of CCl₄

To be the center atom, ability of having greater valance and being most electropositive element in themolecule are important facts.

Because, SiCl₄ is a simple molecule, it is not very difficult to select the center atom.

• Considering greater valence - Chlorine's highest valence is 7 and silicon's highest valence is 4. From that case,we can suggest that chlorine has the potential to be the center atom.
• Most electropositive element - Silicon's electronegativity is 1.9 and chlorine's electronegativity is 3.16according to the Pauling's electronegativity scale. Therefore, silicon is more electropositive than chlorine.In that case, we can suggest that carbon has the potential to be the center atom.
• Now, there is a confusion between how to select the center atom.
• Now, we are going to consider the minimum valence of chlorine and silicon atoms to form stable compounds.
• Chlorine's minimum valence is 1 and silicon's minimum (only) valence is 4. That means, there should be minimumnumber of four bonds around silicon atom, if silicon form a stable compound.
• From above finding, we understand that silicon atom should be the center atom and basic skeletal structure can bedrawn as below.

Mark lone pairs on atoms

After deciding the center atom and drawing of skeletal structure of SiCl₄ molecule, we can start to mark lone pairs on atoms.Remember that, there are total of 16 electron pairs to mark on atoms as bonds and lone pairs.

• There are already 4 single bonds in the above drawn skeletal structure. Now only 12 (16-4) electron pairsare remaining to mark on atoms.
• Usually, those remaining electron pairs should be started to mark on outside atoms.
• Therefore, mark those electrons pairs on each chlorine atom; One chlorine atom will 3 lone pairs. So all remaining 12 lone pairsare marked on all four chlorine atoms.

Mark charges on atoms if there are and check the stability and minimize charges on atoms by converting lone pairs to bonds

There are no charges on silicon and chlorine atoms and we do not need to the step of reducing charges of atoms. It means that, wehave obtained the lewis structure of silicon tetrachloride.

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