NH2OH Lewis Structure in 6 Steps (With Images)

So you have seen the above image by now, right?

Let me explain the above image in short.

NH2OH lewis structure has a Nitrogen atom (N) at the center which is surrounded by two Hydrogen atoms (H) and one OH group. There are two N-H bonds, one O-H bond and one N-O bond. There is 1 lone pair on the Nitrogen atom (N) and 2 lone pairs on the Oxygen atom (O).

If you haven’t understood anything from the above image of NH2OH lewis structure, then just stick with me and you will get the detailed step by step explanation on drawing a lewis structure of NH2OH.

So let’s move to the steps of drawing the lewis structure of NH2OH.

Steps of drawing NH2OH lewis structure

Step 1: Find the total valence electrons in NH2OH molecule

In order to find the total valence electrons in NH2OH molecule, first of all you should know the valence electrons present in nitrogen atom, hydrogen atom as well as oxygen atom.
(Valence electrons are the electrons that are present in the outermost orbit of any atom.)

Here, I’ll tell you how you can easily find the valence electrons of nitrogen, hydrogen as well as oxygen using a periodic table.

Total valence electrons in NH2OH molecule

→ Valence electrons given by nitrogen atom:

Nitrogen is a group 15 element on the periodic table. ^[1] Hence the valence electrons present in nitrogen is 5.

You can see the 5 valence electrons present in the nitrogen atom as shown in the above image.

→ Valence electrons given by hydrogen atom:

Hydrogen is group 1 element on the periodic table. ^[2] Hence the valence electron present in hydrogen is 1.

You can see that only 1 valence electron is present in the hydrogen atom as shown in the above image.

→ Valence electrons given by oxygen atom:

Oxygen is group 16 element on the periodic table. ^[3] Hence the valence electrons present in oxygen is 6.

You can see the 6 valence electrons present in the oxygen atom as shown in the above image.

Hence, 

Total valence electrons in NH2OH molecule = valence electrons given by 1 nitrogen atom + valence electrons given by 3 hydrogen atoms + valence electrons given by 1 oxygen atom = 5 + 1(3) + 6 = 14.

Step 2: Select the central atom

For selecting the center atom, you have to remember that the atom which is less electronegative remains at the center.

(Remember: If hydrogen is present in the given molecule, then always put hydrogen outside.)

Now here the given molecule is NH2OH and it contains nitrogen atom (N), hydrogen atoms (H) and oxygen atom (O).

So as per the rule we have to keep hydrogen outside.

Now, you can see the electronegativity values of nitrogen atom (N) and oxygen atom (O) in the above periodic table.

If we compare the electronegativity values of nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O) then the nitrogen atom is less electronegative.

So here the nitrogen atom (N) is the center atom and the oxygen atom (O) is the outside atom.

Step 3: Connect each atoms by putting an electron pair between them

Now in the NH2OH molecule, you have to put the electron pairs between the nitrogen (N) atom, oxygen (O) atom and hydrogen (H) atoms.

This indicates that these atoms are chemically bonded with each other in a NH2OH molecule.

Step 4: Make the outer atoms stable

Now in this step, you have to check the stability of the outer atoms.

Here in the sketch of NH2OH molecule, you can see that the outer atoms are hydrogen atoms and oxygen atom.

These hydrogen atoms and oxygen atom are forming a duplet and octet respectively and hence they are stable.

Also, in step 1 we have calculated the total number of valence electrons present in the NH2OH molecule.

The NH2OH molecule has a total 14 valence electrons and out of these, only 12 valence electrons are used in the above sketch.

So the number of electrons which are left = 14 – 12 = 2.

You have to put these 2 electrons on the nitrogen atoms in the above sketch of NH2OH molecule.

Now let’s proceed to the next step.

Step 5: Check the octet on the central atom

In this step, you have to check whether the central nitrogen atoms (N) are stable or not.

In order to check the stability of the central nitrogen (N) atoms, we have to check whether they are forming an octet or not.

You can see from the above picture that both the nitrogen atoms are forming an octet.

And hence these nitrogen atoms are stable.

Now let’s proceed to the final step to check whether the lewis structure of NH2OH is stable or not.

Step 6: Check the stability of lewis structure

Now you have come to the final step in which you have to check the stability of lewis structure of NH2OH.

The stability of lewis structure can be checked by using a concept of formal charge.

In short, now you have to find the formal charge on nitrogen (N) atom, hydrogen (H) atoms as well as oxygen (O) atom present in the NH2OH molecule.

For calculating the formal charge, you have to use the following formula;

Formal charge = Valence electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2 – Nonbonding electrons

You can see the number of bonding electrons and nonbonding electrons for each atom of NH2OH molecule in the image given below.

For Nitrogen (N) atom:
Valence electrons = 5 (because nitrogen is in group 15)
Bonding electrons = 6
Nonbonding electrons = 2

For Hydrogen (H) atom:
Valence electron = 1 (because hydrogen is in group 1)
Bonding electrons = 2
Nonbonding electrons = 0

For Oxygen (O) atom:
Valence electrons = 6 (because oxygen is in group 16)
Bonding electrons = 4
Nonbonding electrons = 4

From the above calculations of formal charge, you can see that the nitrogen (N) atom, hydrogen (H) atom as well as oxygen (O) atom have a “zero” formal charge.

This indicates that the above lewis structure of NH2OH is stable and there is no further change in the above structure of NH2OH.

In the above lewis dot structure of NH2OH, you can also represent each bonding electron pair (:) as a single bond (|). By doing so, you will get the following lewis structure of NH2OH.

I hope you have completely understood all the above steps.

For more practice and better understanding, you can try other lewis structures listed below.

Try (or at least See) these lewis structures for better understanding:

About author

Jay Rana

Jay is an educator and has helped more than 100,000 students in their studies by providing simple and easy explanations on different science-related topics. He is a founder of Pediabay and is passionate about helping students through his easily digestible explanations.

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