Question

vanillin is extracted from vanilla beans. its used to flavor ice cream and other sweet foods. the lewis structure of a vanillin molecule is shown below. complete the statements to identify patterns in the vanillin molecule. each hydrogen atom forms covalent bond(s) and has lone pair(s). each carbon atom forms alent bond(s) and has lone pair(s). each oxygen atom forms alent bond(s) and has lone pair(s).

Explanation:

Step1: Analyze hydrogen atom

Hydrogen has 1 valence electron. It forms 1 covalent bond to achieve a stable \(1s^{2}\) configuration (similar to helium). And it has no lone pairs as all its valence electrons are used in bonding.

Step2: Analyze carbon atom

Carbon has 4 valence electrons. In organic molecules like vanillin, carbon forms 4 covalent bonds (it can form single, double or triple bonds but the total number of bonds is 4) to achieve an octet. And it has no lone pairs as all 4 valence electrons are used in bonding.

Step3: Analyze oxygen atom

Oxygen has 6 valence electrons. It forms 2 covalent bonds (for example, in \(H - O-\) or \(C = O\) ). The number of lone pairs: using the formula \( \text{lone pairs}=\frac{1}{2}( \text{valence electrons}-\text{bonding electrons})\). For oxygen with 6 valence electrons and 2 bonding electrons (in single or double bonds), \( \text{lone pairs}=\frac{1}{2}(6 - 2)=2\)

Answer:

• Each hydrogen atom forms \(1\) covalent bond(s) and has \(0\) lone pair(s).
• Each carbon atom forms \(4\) covalent bond(s) and has \(0\) lone pair(s).
• Each oxygen atom forms \(2\) covalent bond(s) and has \(2\) lone pair(s).