NO2 Lewis Structure

[Teleologist]

Why wouldn't NO2 have 4 bonds and a radical?

Does this have to do with hybridization?

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[DrknoSDN]

Like true double bonding to both oxygens and a radical on top of that?

That would just be very very unstable, and only exist as part of some intermediate to something else. It might exist in a fraction of a second like how carbon has a theoretical 5 bond intermediate in an SN2 reaction, but stability would prevent those types of bonds from being observed.

 

[Teleologist]

Like true double bonding to both oxygens and a radical on top of that?

That would just be very very unstable, and only exist as part of some intermediate to something else. It might exist in a fraction of a second like how carbon has a theoretical 5 bond intermediate in an SN2 reaction, but stability would prevent those types of bonds from being observed.

Why would this lack stability?


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[workethic712]

N is in the 2nd row of the periodic table and cannot exceed an octet. ever.

 

[BestDoctorEver]

Shouldn't it be a lone pair on Nitrogen... Why do they draw these resonances as radicals?

 

[BestDoctorEver]

Edit: why these radicals again?

 

[DrknoSDN]

Why would this lack stability?

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Like WorkEthic said you cannot exceed 4 bonds. So 2 double bonds and a radical would be like a 5th bond so it would be unstable.. You cannot say that it can never happen because like I said, an SN2 reaction has an intermediate where carbon has 5 bonds. (a partial bonds to the nucleophile and a partial bond to the leaving group.)

To answer BestDoctorEver they draw it as a radical because of the instantaneous dipole. It is more stable having a partial positive on nitrogen instead of on the oxygen so the electrons pairs would spend more time around the oxygens leaving the radical on the nitrogen.

Remember with resonance, all the forms exist... Drawing one over the other is just expressing what resonance structure contributes most to the chemical properties of the molecule.