Answer to Question #240884 in Organic Chemistry for Anne

Question

Please, could you tell me, what are the molecular electron configurations of Methane, Methanol and Chloromethane?

Answer 1

(1)Methane

$CH_4=C(6)+4\times H(1)\\=10 e^-\\$

so the electron configurations of Methane is

$\sigma1s^2\sigma^*1s^2 \sigma2s^2\sigma^*2s^2[\pi2px^1=\pi2py^1]$

(2) Methanol

$CH_3OH=C(6)+O(8)+4\times H(1)\\=15e^-$

so the electron configurations of Methanol is

$\sigma1s^2\sigma^*1s^2 \sigma2s^2\sigma^*2s^2 \sigma2pz^2[\pi2px^2=\pi2py^2][\pi^*2px^1]$

(3) Chloromethane

$CH_3CL=C(6)+3\times H(1)+CL(9)\\=16e^-$

so the electron configurations of Chloromethane is

$\sigma1s^2\sigma^*1s^2 \sigma2s^2\sigma^*2s^2 \sigma2pz^2[\pi2px^2=\pi2py^2][\pi^*2px^1=\pi^*2py^1]$