I thought only elements with 8 electrons on the outermost shell were stable.But this element has only 6.Please explain in simple terms.Long answers are welcome.
Update:Sorry,Jimmy is right the correct spelling is Boron Trifluoride not Boron Triflouride.
Verified answer
There is a phenomenon known as p(pi)-p(pi) back bonding taking place in BF3. It may sound a bit complicated, but i can explain in simple terms.
now, when Boron forms bonds with fluorine, boron has 6 electrons and fluorine has 8 electrons. Now fluorine being small in Size and having High Electronegativity (tendency to pull negative charge) has a high amount of charge density (charge per volume) on it, which it prefers to reduce. So, it loses an electron and Boron accepts that electron. Then Fluorine makes a bond with the electron it just lost, forming a double bond. This is known as p(pi)-p(pi) back bonding. As a result of this, both boron and fluorine have eight electrons. All three fluorine atoms are capable of this type of bonding, making boron a highly stable molecule.
BF3 is pretty stable. Boron atoms have three valence electrons so it's pretty stable when they form three covalent bonds with fluorine atoms. They are still, however, good Lewis acids and do still readily gain an electron pair in reactions.
Actually BF3 doesn't exist in nature. To decrease the incomplete electron structure, two BF3 molecules attach each other and we have B2F6. With the half bound that is formed this way, the electron structure becomes a semi 8 electron shell, which is more stable.
Hope it helped!
I dont know if this is SIMPLE terms... but it is stable due to an extra 2p-2p back bond between F and B atoms apart from the sigma bond that is already present. 2p-2p forms of back bond is very stable.
This is theoretical. It actually exists as a polymer. B2F6
Yes. It is stable. Although you are taught in high school chemistry that the outer electron shell must be full, there are exceptions and this is one of them. The B-F bond is very strong so it is unlikely to break up.
yes it is beacuse it forms strong pi bond (B-F)