Identify the most electronegative element in each of the...

Identify the most electronegative element in each of the following molecules:
(a) $\mathrm{CH}_{2} \mathrm{FCl}$
(b) $\mathrm{FCH}_{2} \mathrm{CH}_{2} \mathrm{CH}_{2} \mathrm{Br}$
(c) $\mathrm{HOCH}_{2} \mathrm{CH}_{2} \mathrm{NH}_{2}$
(d) $\mathrm{CH}_{3} \mathrm{OCH}_{2} \mathrm{Li}$

Key Concepts

Electronegativity

Electronegativity is the ability of an atom to attract electrons towards itself in a chemical bond. This intrinsic atomic property helps determine the polarity of bonds within a molecule and affects molecular behavior, reactivity, and interactions. The concept is central in understanding how charge is distributed in compounds.

Periodic Trends

Periodic trends in electronegativity state that values generally increase as you move from left to right across a period and decrease as you move down a group in the periodic table. This systematic variation enables the prediction and comparison of which atoms in a molecule, such as halogens or oxygen, are more likely to attract shared electrons, aiding in identifying the most electronegative element in a compound.

Transcript

00:01 They want us to identify the most electronegative element in each of the following molecules.

00:06 So i went ahead and pulled up an electronegativity chart.

00:14 And now all we need to do is identify which of these atoms is just going to have the larger number.

00:23 So maybe we can use some trends, though, to kind of help us out.

00:27 So one thing, if you ever have any halides, it's normally a good idea to, look towards those.

00:33 So we can straight off the back think probably fluorine or chlorine is going to be the more electronegative of them.

00:41 And if we were to check, carbon only has an electronegativity of 2 .5.

00:48 Hydrogen has electronegativity of 2 .1.

00:52 So carbon is more electronegative than hydrogen, so we can cross out hydrogen.

00:58 And then carbon, if we were to think about it, remember some of the trends are going to be its more electronegative electrow negative going to the right and more electronegative going up so fluorine is to the left of carbon so from at least that trend we could already get rid of carbon and then chlorine is below fluorine in its column so then that would mean we would have fluorine being the most electronegative alright, now what about b here? well, again, we would go through the same thing.

01:42 We have two halides here, and each of these halides are going to be more electronegative than carbon hydrogen, so we can ignore all the carbons of hydrogens.

01:53 Then we just need to figure out, well, what about fluorine to bromine? so it is a good idea to just remember fluorine is the most electronegative, but we could also use the periodic trend, that bromine is below fluorine.

02:06 So, chlorine is going to be more electronegative.

02:12 Now, for this next one, so we have carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen...

Please give Ace some feedback