Answer to Question #71145 in General Chemistry for Success

Question

What is the name of the hybrid orbitals used by phosphorus in PCl3? Express your answer in condensed form in order of increasing orbital energy

Answer 1

Phosphorus's ground state configuration is 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 3p^3.
In PCl3 there is a lone pair on P and 3 bonds, so sp3 hybridisation is needed (the 3s23p13p13p1 orbitals produce 4 sp3 hybrid obitals, one of which is a lone pair and the other 3 are half filled and bond to Cl). The fourth sp3 hybrid orbital on P is a doubly occupied non-bonding orbital.