 Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/paper-1/2/e/solution

 Top articles  Latest articles New article in topic

Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Paper 1 / 2 / e / Solution by

Codex  0 2026-10-20

The framework has a planar

H_{2} C

group attached to a straight C–N–N axis. Two useful octet resonance contributors are

H_{2} C = N^{+} = N^{-} \leftrightarrow H_{2} C^{-} - N^{+} \equiv N .

(1)

In the left contributor, the terminal nitrogen has two lone pairs; in the right, the terminal nitrogen and carbon each have one. Each formula has 16 valence electrons and zero net electric charge. The double-headed resonance arrow changes the electronic allocation while retaining the same nuclear framework; these are not two different equilibrium species.

 Read the full article

 New to topics? Read the docs here!