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Example · Example 9

Q.Draw the two resonance (canonical) structures of the acetate ion, CH3COO(-), and state what they predict about the two carbon-oxygen bond lengths in the ion.

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The acetate ion, CH3COO−\text{CH}_3\text{COO}^-, can be drawn with two different, but equally valid, Lewis structures. In the first, the carbon is doubly bonded to one oxygen atom (call it Oa\text{O}_a) and singly bonded to the other (Ob\text{O}_b), which then carries the full negative charge: CH3−C(=Oa)−Ob−\text{CH}_3-\text{C}(=\text{O}_a)-\text{O}_b^-. In the second structure, the double bond and the negative charge simply swap oxygen atoms: CH3−C(−Oa−)=Ob\text{CH}_3-\text{C}(-\text{O}_a^-)=\text{O}_b. These two structures differ only in the placement of electrons (the position of the C=O pi bond and the negative charge), not in the position of any atom, so they are valid resonance (canonical) structures of the same ion, and since neither carbon-oxygen bond is intrinsically favoured over the other, the two structures are energetically identical and contribute equally to the real structure. …

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