Dr.

Engel 8/27/15
Do not draw structures like this in Chem. 211
The circle is an attempt to show both resonance
structures at once. However, it is not possible to push
curved arrows on this structure.
O

--

C
O

This is an attempt to show all three resonance strucure of

carbonate at once. However, it is also impossible to push
curved arrows on dashed line structures.

C
C

If you draw this, you have to show the

hydrogens thusly:

C
don't write

H
We like

CH3
H3C

CH3

_
O
_

Do not show lone pairs as lines because

they are too easily confused with
bonds and negative charges.

We don't like

Finally, consider carbon monoxide.

only 6 e- on C but
no charge separation

all octets but has charge separation

Holy smokes; which one is better? Answer:

experimentally, the dipole moment points from
O to C so C is the negative end of the molecule.
Octets must be really important, considering that
we are placing the + charge on the more
electronegative atom.