NO2Cl 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.

NO2Cl lewis structure has a Nitrogen atom (N) at the center which is surrounded by two Oxygen atoms (O) and one Chlorine atom (Cl). There is 1 double bond between the Nitrogen atom (N) & Oxygen atom (O) and the other atoms are single bonded.

If you haven’t understood anything from the above image of NO2Cl lewis structure, then just stick with me and you will get the detailed step by step explanation on drawing a lewis structure of NO2Cl.

So let’s move to the steps of drawing the lewis structure of NO2Cl.

Steps of drawing NO2Cl lewis structure

Step 1: Find the total valence electrons in NO2Cl molecule

In order to find the total valence electrons in NO2Cl, first of all you should know the valence electrons present in nitrogen atom, oxygen atom as well as chlorine 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, oxygen as well as chlorine using a periodic table.

Total valence electrons in NO2Cl 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 oxygen atom:

Oxygen is group 16 element on the periodic table. ^[2] 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.

→ Valence electrons given by chlorine atom:

Chlorine is group 17 element on the periodic table. ^[3] Hence the valence electrons present in chlorine is 7.

You can see the 7 valence electrons present in the chlorine atom as shown in the above image.

Hence, 

Total valence electrons in NO2Cl molecule = valence electrons given by 1 nitrogen atom + valence electrons given by 2 oxygen atoms + valence electrons given by 1 chlorine atom = 5 + 6(2) + 7 = 24.

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.

Now here the given molecule is NO2Cl, and it contains nitrogen atom (N), oxygen atoms (O) and chlorine atom (Cl).

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

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

So here the nitrogen atom (N) is the center atom and the oxygen atoms (O) as well as chlorine atom (Cl) are the outside atoms.

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

Now in the NO2Cl molecule, you have to put the electron pairs between the nitrogen atom (N), oxygen atom (O) and chlorine atoms (Cl).

This indicates that the nitrogen (N), oxygen (O) and chlorine (O) are chemically bonded with each other in a NO2Cl 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 NO2Cl molecule, you can see that the outer atoms are oxygen atoms and chlorine atom.

These outer oxygen atoms and chlorine atom are forming an octet and hence they are stable.

Also, in step 1 we have calculated the total number of valence electrons present in the NO2Cl molecule.

The NO2Cl molecule has a total 24 valence electrons and all these valence electrons are used in the above sketch.

Hence there are no remaining electron pairs to be kept on the central atom. 

So now let’s proceed to the next step.

Step 5: Check the octet on the central atom. If it does not have octet, then shift the lone pair to form a double bond or triple bond.

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

In order to check the stability of the central nitrogen (N) atom, we have to check whether it is forming an octet or not.

Unfortunately, the nitrogen atom is not forming an octet here. Nitrogen has only 6 electrons and it is unstable.

Now to make this nitrogen atom stable, you have to shift the electron pair from the outer oxygen atom so that the nitrogen atom can have 8 electrons (i.e octet).

After shifting this electron pair, the central nitrogen atom will get 2 more electrons and thus its total electrons will become 8.

You can see from the above picture that the nitrogen atom is forming an octet as it has 8 electrons.

Now let’s proceed to the final step to check whether the above lewis structure 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 NO2Cl.

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, oxygen atom (O) as well as chlorine (Cl) atom present in the NO2Cl 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 NO2Cl molecule in the image given below.

For Nitrogen (N) atom:
Valence electrons = 5 (because nitrogen is in group 15)
Bonding electrons = 8
Nonbonding electrons = 0

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

For single bonded Oxygen (O) atom:
Valence electrons = 6 (because oxygen is in group 16)
Bonding electrons = 2
Nonbonding electrons = 6

For Chlorine (Cl) atom:
Valence electron = 7 (because chlorine is in group 17)
Bonding electrons = 2
Nonbonding electrons = 6

Formal charge	=	Valence electrons	–	(Bonding electrons)/2	–	Nonbonding electrons
N	=	5	–	8/2	–	0	=	+1
O (double bonded)	=	6	–	4/2	–	4	=	0
O (single bonded)	=	6	–	2/2	–	6	=	-1
Cl	=	7	–	2/2	–	6	=	0

From the above calculations of formal charge, you can see that the nitrogen (N) atom has +1 charge while the single bonded oxygen atom has -1 charge.

The +1 and -1 charge from the above sketch gets canceled and the above lewis dot structure of NO2Cl is the stable lewis structure.

In the above lewis dot structure of NO2Cl, you can also represent each bonding electron pair (:) as a single bond (|). By doing so, you will get the following lewis structure of NO2Cl.

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:

TeF4 Lewis Structure	ClF Lewis Structure
SO Lewis Structure	XeCl2 Lewis Structure
SeF2 Lewis Structure	C2F2 Lewis Structure