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Question:

Draw the structures of the following molecules: (i) N2O5 (ii) XeF2

Solution:

  1. N2O5
    The structure of N2O5 is a planar molecule with two nitrogen atoms and five oxygen atoms. Each nitrogen atom is bonded to two oxygen atoms, and one oxygen atom is bonded to both nitrogen atoms. The structure can be represented as:

    O
    ||

O-N-O-N-O
||
O

Alternatively, it can be shown as two NO2 groups connected by an oxygen bridge:

O O
|| ||
O-N-O-N-O

  1. XeF2
    The structure of XeF2 is linear. The central Xenon atom is surrounded by two fluorine atoms and three lone pairs of electrons. The three lone pairs occupy the equatorial positions in a trigonal bipyramidal electron geometry, resulting in a linear molecular geometry.

F-Xe-F