[Jekel0000]

Look without seeing any Merck or Encyclopedia of Phys and Chem text.
How would you determine what the Lewis Dot Structure of a 3rd period compound such as
SCl₂

Since most 3rd period atoms have a 3rd orbital
and 3rd orbitals can hold up to 18 electrons
3s^2 4d^10 3p^6

[Jekel0000]

since Chloride has 7 valence electrons that only allows room for one free electron to complete the octet rule for dot structures. Therefore one single bond between the central least affinitive atom Sulfur. Count the number of valence electrons in the compound SCl₂.
7 for each Cl
6 for sulfur
14 + 6 = 20

Now that I notice that the Chloride Atoms have a formal charge of 2- on the compound....
Thank you so much DR JEKEL
Sincerely
Mr HYDE

[MJF]

I don't know if everyone teaches this but my professor recommended that we keep a tally of electrons when drawing the Lewis structure. For SCl2, I know S is the central and the two Chlorine atoms are peripheral atoms. I know S has 6 electrons and the Chlorines combined are 14 which is 20 electrons in total. Place a couple of single bonds in the structure and subtract 4 electrons from 20 = 16. Add 6 electrons to each Chlorine atom to satisfy the octet rule. Combined that is 12. So subtract 12 from 16 = 4 remaining electrons. These electrons will serve as lone pair electrons for S so place 4 dots around S.

I hope that helps.

MJF

[Jekel0000]

I think you misunderstood what I was saying you see, atoms of 3rd period or higher have more that 8 valence electrons because of the sd hybridized orbital...