Carbon and its compounds – 2nd Part

Bonding In Carbon: Covalent Bond

Bond formed by sharing of electrons is called covalent bond. Two of more
atoms share electrons to make their configuration stable. In this type of bond,
all the atoms have similar rights over shared electrons. Compounds which are
formed because of covalent bond are called COVALNET COMPOUNDS.
Covalent bonds are of three types: Single, double and triple covalent bond.

Single Covalent Bond: Single covalent bond is formed because of sharing of

two electrons, one from each of the two atoms.

Formation of hydrogen molecule (H2)

Atomic Number of H = 1
Electronic configuration of H = 1
Valence electron of H = 1
Hydrogen forms a duet, to obtain stable configuration. This configuration is
similar to helium (a noble gas).
Since, hydrogen has one electron in its valence shell, so it requires one more
electron to form a duet. So, in the formation of hydrogen molecule; one
electron from each of the hydrogen atoms is shared.

Formation of hydrogen chloride (HCl):

Valence electron of hydrogen = 1
Atomic number of chlorine = 17
Electronic configuration of chlorine: 2, 8, 7
Electrons in outermost orbit = 7
Valence electron = 7

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Formation of chlorine molecule (Cl2):
Valence electron of chlorine = 7

Formation of water (H2O)

Valence electron of hydrogen = 1
Atomic number of oxygen = 8
Electronic configuration of oxygen = 2, 6
Valence electron = 6

Oxygen in water molecule completes stable configuration by the sharing one

electron from each of the two hydrogen atoms.

Formation of Methane (CH4)

Valence electron of carbon = 4
Valence electron of hydrogen = 1

Formation of Ethane (C2H6):

Double covalent bond: Double bond is formed by sharing of four electrons,

two from each of the two atoms.

Formation of oxygen molecule (O2):

Valence electron of oxygen = 2

In the formation of oxygen molecule, two electrons are shared by each of the
two oxygen atoms to complete their stable configuration.
In oxygen, the total number of shared electrons is four, two from each of the
oxygen atoms. So a double covalent bond is formed.
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Formation of Carbon dioxide (CO2):
Valence electron of carbon = 4
Valence electron of oxygen = 6

In carbon dioxide two double covalent bonds are formed.

Formation of Ethene (C2H4):

Valence electron of carbon = 4
Valence electron of hydrogen = 1

Triple Covalent Bond: Triple covalent bond is formed because of the sharing
of six electrons, three from each of the two atoms.

Formation of Nitrogen (N2):

Atomic number of nitrogen = 7
Electronic configuration of nitrogen = 2, 5
Valence electron = 5

In the formation of nitrogen, three electrons are shared by each of the nitrogen
atoms. Thus one triple bond is formed because of the sharing of total six
electrons.

Formation of Ethyne or Acetylene (C2H2):

Properties of Covalent Bond:

• Intermolecular force is smaller.
• Covalent bonds are weaker than ionic bond. As a result, covalent
compounds have low melting and boiling points.
• Covalent compounds are poor conductor of electricity as no
charged particles are formed in covalent bond.

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 • Since, carbon compounds are formed by the formation of covalent
bond, so carbon compounds generally have low melting and boiling
points and are poor conductor of electricity.

• Versatile nature of carbon

• The versatile nature of carbon due to the presence of covalent bond enables it to
form a large number of compounds.
• (i) Carbon due to its property of catenation possesses a unique ability to form
bonds with other atoms of carbon, giving rise to large number of molecules and
compounds having long chains of carbon, branched chains of carbon or carbon
atoms arranged in rings and linked by single, double or triple bonds.

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• Fig. Carbon forming single, double and triple bonds with each other
• (ii) Carbon being tetravalent is capable of bonding with four other atoms of
carbon or any other combining mono-valent element.
• (iii) Carbon forms compounds with oxygen (Carbon-dioxide), hydrogen
(Methane), nitrogen (Hydrogen cyanide), sulphur, chlorine (Chloromethane) and
many other elements giving rise to compounds with specific properties
depending upon the elements present in the compound.

•
• (iv) The compounds formed are stable due to their strong bonds as a result of its
small size which enables the nucleus to hold the shared pair of electrons firmly.
Saturated Carbon Compounds

• Compounds formed by the linking of carbon by single bonds in between them are
called saturated compounds.
• These compounds have hydrogen atoms that fill all of the other bonding orbitals
of the carbon atoms.
• For example, Alkanes are saturated compounds. It is a series of saturated
compounds.
• Methane with a formula CH4 is one of the simplest compounds formed by carbon.
o The valency of hydrogen is 1 and that of carbon is 4.

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 o So 4 carbon atoms share their outermost electrons with four individual
hydrogen atoms by a single

bond.
o This saturated compound is extensively used as a fuel and is one of the
significant constituents of bio-gas and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).

• The second compound in the series of saturated compounds is ethane with a

formula of C2H6.
o In case of ethane three valencies of each carbon atom remain unsatisfied
and hence each carbon is bonded to three hydrogen atoms by a single
bond are normally not very reactive.

Unsaturated Carbon Compounds

• Compounds formed by the linking of carbon by double or triple bonds in between

them are called unsaturated compounds.
o For example, Ethene (C2H4) is an alkene in which one carbon atom gets
bonded to another carbon atom by a double bond. The remaining
valencies of each carbon are satisfied by two hydrogen atoms.

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 • Ethyne (C2H2) is an alkyne in which one carbon atom gets bonded to another
carbon atom by a double or triple bond. The remaining valency of each carbon is
satisfied by one hydrogen atom.

• These compounds are more reactive than the saturated carbon compounds.

Hydrocarbons
Hydro carbon = Hydrogen + Carbon
Compounds made up of hydrogen and carbon only are called hydrocarbons. Eg: CH 4,
C2H6
Types of Hydrocarbon:
• Aliphatic Hydrocarbon – long chain or branched
1. Saturated Hydrocarbon - Alkanes
2. Unsaturated Hydrocarbons – Alkenes and Alkynes
• Cyclic Hydrocarbons – cyclic
1. Cycloalkane – saturated
2. Arene – By smell(Aromatic) – unsaturated
Saturated Hydrocarbon (Alkanes)
Hydrocarbons that are bonded exclusively by single bond.
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General formula of Alkane is CnH2n+2
They are chemically unreactive.
Naming of a carbon compound can be done using the following steps. Identify the
longest chain in the compound carrying functional group and count the number of
carbon atoms in that. The number of carbon atoms in the longest chain form the root
word.
Number of
carbon General formula
atoms Word Root CnH2n+2 Structural formula Nomenclature Formula

C1 H2x1+2
1 Meth = C H2+2 = CH4 Methane CH4

C2 H2x2+2
2 Eth = C2 H4+2 = C2H6 Ethane C2H6

C3 H2x3+2
3 Prop = C3 H6+2 = C3H8 Propane C3H8

C4 H2x4+2
4 But = C4 H8+2 = C4H10 Butane C4H10

C5 H2x5+2
5 Pent = C5 H10+2 = C5H12 Pentane C5H12

C6 H2x6+2
6 Hex = C6 H12+2 = C6H14 Hexane C6H14

Unsaturated Hydrocarbons (Alkene)

Hydrocarbons that are bonded exclusively by a double bond.
General formula = Cn H2n
Eg: C2H4, C3H6 etc
They are chemically reactive.

Number
of carbon Word General formula
atoms Root CnH2n Structural formula Nomenclature Formula

C2 H2x2
2 Eth = C2H4 Ethene C2H4

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 C3 H2x3
3 Prop = C3H6 Propene C3H6

C4 H2x4
4 But = C4H8 Butene C4H8

C5 H2x5
5 Pent = C5H10 Pentene C5H10

C6 H2x6
6 Hex = C6H12 Hexene C6H12

Unsaturated Hydrocarbons (Alkyne)

Hydrocarbons that are bonded exclusively by a triple bond.

General formula = Cn H2n-2
Eg: C2H2, C3H4 etc
They are chemically very reactive.

Number
of carbon Word General formula
atoms Root CnH2n - 2 Structural formula Nomenclature Formula

C2 H2x2-2
2 Eth = C2 H4-2 = C2H2 Ethyne C2H2

C3 H2x3-2
3 Prop = C3 H6-2 = C3H4 Propyne C3H4

C4 H2x4-2
4 But = C4 H8-2 = C4H6 Butyne C4H6

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 C5 H2x5-2
= C5 H10-2 =
5 Pent C5H8 Pentyne C5H8

C6 H2x6-2
= C6 H12-2 =
6 Hex C6H10 Hexyne C6H10

Cyclic Hydrocarbon:
Hydrocarbon which carbon atoms are arranged in form of a ring.
Saturated: Cycloalkanes
Cyclic Hydrocarbon with all single bond.

Unsaturated: Arene
Cyclic Hydrocarbon with all double bond.

Types of formula: For eg. Ethene

• Molecular formula: The actual number of each type of atom present in the
compound.
C2H4
• Structural formula: The actual arrangement of atoms is written

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 • Electron Dot formula: Electron sharing is also shown with structure.

• Condensed formula; It is the shortened form of the structural formula.

H2C CH2
Steps to write Electron dot Structure of Hydrocarbons
• Write electronic configuration of all atoms present in molecule.
• Find how many electrons are needed by each atom to attain noble gas
configuration.
• First completer the noble gas configuration of all hydrogen atoms by bonding
each hydrogen atom with a carbon atom by a single bond.
• The remaining valency of each carbon is completed by forming carbon – carbon
single, double and triple bond.
• Note: Shared electrons are counted in valence shell of both the atoms sharing it.

Electron dot structure (Cyclohexane)

Electron dot structure of Benzene

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