SF4 Lewis Structure in 5 Steps (With Images)

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

Let me explain the above image in short.

SF4 lewis structure has a Sulfur atom (S) at the center which is surrounded by four Fluorine atoms (F). There are 4 single bonds between the Sulfur atom (S) and each Fluorine atom (F). There is 1 lone pair on the Sulfur atom (S) and 3 lone pairs on all the four Fluorine atoms (F).

If you haven’t understood anything from the above image of SF4 lewis structure, then just stick with me and you will get the detailed step by step explanation on drawing a lewis structure of SF4.

So let’s move to the steps of drawing the lewis structure of SF4.

Steps of drawing SF4 lewis structure

Step 1: Find the total valence electrons in SF4 molecule

In order to find the total valence electrons in SF4 molecule, first of all you should know the valence electrons present in sulfur atom as well as fluorine 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 sulfur as well as fluorine using a periodic table.

Total valence electrons in SF4 molecule

→ Valence electrons given by sulfur atom:

Sulfur is a group 16 element on the periodic table. ^[1] Hence the valence electrons present in sulfur is 6.

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

→ Valence electrons given by fluorine atom:

Fluorine is group 17 element on the periodic table. ^[2] Hence the valence electron present in fluorine is 7.

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

Hence, 

Total valence electrons in SF4 molecule = valence electrons given by 1 sulfur atom + valence electrons given by 4 fluorine atoms = 6 + 7(4) = 34.

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 SF4 and it contains sulfur atom (S) and fluorine atoms (F).

You can see the electronegativity values of sulfur atom (S) and fluorine atom (F) in the above periodic table.

If we compare the electronegativity values of sulfur (S) and fluorine (F) then the sulfur atom is less electronegative.

So here the sulfur atom (S) is the center atom and the fluorine atoms (F) are the outside atoms.

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

Now in the SF4 molecule, you have to put the electron pairs between the sulfur atom (S) and fluorine atoms (F).

This indicates that the sulfur (S) and fluorine (F) are chemically bonded with each other in a SF4 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 SF4 molecule, you can see that the outer atoms are fluorine atoms.

These outer fluorine atoms 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 SF4 molecule.

The SF4 molecule has a total 34 valence electrons and out of these, only 32 valence electrons are used in the above sketch.

So the number of electrons which are left = 34 – 32 = 2.

You have to put these 2 electrons on the central sulfur atom in the above sketch of SF4 molecule.

Now let’s proceed to the next step.

Step 5: 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 SF4.

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 sulfur (S) atom as well as fluorine (F) atoms present in the SF4 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 SF4 molecule in the image given below.

For Sulfur (S) atom:
Valence electrons = 6 (because sulfur is in group 16)
Bonding electrons = 8
Nonbonding electrons = 2

For Fluorine (F) atom:
Valence electron = 7 (because fluorine is in group 17)
Bonding electrons = 2
Nonbonding electrons = 6

Formal charge	=	Valence electrons	–	(Bonding electrons)/2	–	Nonbonding electrons
S	=	6	–	8/2	–	2	=	0
F	=	7	–	2/2	–	6	=	0

From the above calculations of formal charge, you can see that the sulfur (S) atom as well as fluorine (F) atom has a “zero” formal charge.

This indicates that the above lewis structure of SF4 is stable and there is no further change in the above structure of SF4.

In the above lewis dot structure of SF4, you can also represent each bonding electron pair (:) as a single bond (|). By doing so, you will get the following lewis structure of SF4.

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:

H2S lewis structure	OF2 lewis structure
NF3 lewis structure	CCl4 lewis structure
CS2 lewis structure	SF6 lewis structure