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Sulfur is the 10th most abundant element on Earth and is an essential element in biological systems. Sulfur can form a variety of chemical compounds and will react with nearly every element except Au, Pt, Ir, Te, and the noble gases. A list of several common inorganic compounds of sulfur is given in Table 1.Table 1 Selected Common Inorganic Sulfur Compounds
Reduction of elemental sulfur by bacteria during anaerobic digestion produces the toxic, foul-smelling gas H₂S. Oxidation of elemental sulfur via combustion or volcanic processes yields gases of SO₂ and SO₃. When dissolved in water, both SO₂ and SO₃ produce acidic solutions, and SO₃ reacts with water to form the acid H₂SO₄. Neutralization of H₂SO₄ can provide a variety of salts, including Na₂SO₄.Elemental sulfur can also react with halogen gases to form sulfur halides such as the industrially important insulator gas SF₆ and the synthetic reagent S₂Cl₂. S₂Cl₂ facilitates the formation of other sulfur compounds. For example, reacting S₂Cl₂ with NH₃ produces the sulfur pnictide S₄N₄.
-Which of the following compounds from Table 1 has a sulfur atom with a d²sp³ hybridization state?

Question

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Sulfur is the 10th most abundant element on Earth and is an essential element in biological systems. Sulfur can form a variety of chemical compounds and will react with nearly every element except Au, Pt, Ir, Te, and the noble gases. A list of several common inorganic compounds of sulfur is given in Table 1.Table 1 Selected Common Inorganic Sulfur Compounds

Reduction of elemental sulfur by bacteria during anaerobic digestion produces the toxic, foul-smelling gas H₂S. Oxidation of elemental sulfur via combustion or volcanic processes yields gases of SO₂ and SO₃. When dissolved in water, both SO₂ and SO₃ produce acidic solutions, and SO₃ reacts with water to form the acid H₂SO₄. Neutralization of H₂SO₄ can provide a variety of salts, including Na₂SO₄.Elemental sulfur can also react with halogen gases to form sulfur halides such as the industrially important insulator gas SF₆ and the synthetic reagent S₂Cl₂. S₂Cl₂ facilitates the formation of other sulfur compounds. For example, reacting S₂Cl₂ with NH₃ produces the sulfur pnictide S₄N₄.
-Which of the following compounds from Table 1 has a sulfur atom with a d²sp³ hybridization state?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

11ecba2d_1233_ec2e_a3bf_55ad2a70af47_MD0008_00 During hybridization, two or more atomic orbitals (s, p, d, f) combine to make hybrid orbitals that adopt a spatial orientation with an electron geometry that minimizes the repulsion between the electron-dense regions. Due to conservation of orbitals, the number of hybrid orbitals that form must equal the number of atomic orbitals that hybridize. Each hybrid orbital that is formed by an atom can either bond with another atom or can hold a nonbonding pair of electrons. As a result, the sum of the number of bonding regions and the number of nonbonding electron pairs around the central atom in a compound must be equal to the number of hybrid orbitals employed by the central atom. A sulfur atom with a d²sp³ hybridization combines one s orbital, three p orbitals, and two d orbitals (six orbitals in total) to make six d²sp³ hybrid orbitals that provide six electron-dense regions that can either form six bonds or exist as a combination of bonding regions and nonbonding electron pairs that total to six. Although S is the central atom in the structure of each compound given in this question, only SF₆ has six electron-dense regions (in the form of six S-F bonds) around the sulfur atom. Therefore, only SF₆ has a d²sp³ hybridized S atom. (Choice A) The S atom in SO₂ is surrounded by three electron-dense regions (one S=O bond, one S-O bond, and one pair of nonbonding electrons) and has sp² hybridization. (Choice C) SO₃ has a S atom surrounded by three electron-dense regions (one S=O bond, two S-O bonds, and no nonbonding electron pair) and has sp² hybridization. (Choice D) In S₂Cl₂, each S atom is surrounded by four electron-dense regions (one S-S bond, one S-Cl bond, and two nonbonding electron pairs) and has sp³ hybridization. Educational objective: In hybridization, the number of hybrid orbitals that form must be equal to the number of atomic orbitals that hybridize. The sum of the number of bonding regions and the number of nonbonding electron pairs around the central atom in a compound must be equal to the number of hybrid orbitals employed by the central atom.

Passage Sulfur Is the 10th Most Abundant Element on Earth and and Is