Formal Charges Made Easy

Ketzbook explains formal charges and demonstrates how to calculate formal charge. Starting from simple examples, such as water and carbon monoxide, progressing through polyatomic ions, such as fulminate and sulfate, and finishing with the complex cancer-fighting molecule venetoclax, Ketzbook shows tips and strategies for determining the formal charge of an atom in a molecule or polyatomic ion. This is related to other topics, such as Salt Bae and Breaking Bad.

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Formal charge is best understood as the actual charge of an atom if all its bonds were perfectly covalent or ionic. Formal charge can be calculated by subtracting the number of valence electrons an atom has as a single atom minus the number of valence electrons it has in a Lewis structure.

Sometimes it is preferable to minimize formal charge in order to achieve the "best" Lewis structure. However, this normally should not be done at the expense of exceeding the octet rule. This is a common misconception. High level calculations of the sulfate ion show significant positive charge on the sulfur atom (+1.77) and a lack of d-orbital participation in bonding. This indicates that the octet rule is not exceeded in sulfate and other similar molecules and polyatomic ions.
See:
(1) http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/...
(2) Suidan, L., Badenhoop, J. K., Glendening, E. D., & Weinhold, F. (1995). Common Textbook and Teaching Misrepresentations of Lewis Structures. Journal of Chemical Education, 72(7), 583. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021...
(3) A. Reed and P.v.R. Schleyer, Journal of the American Chemical Society 109, 7362-73 (1987), ibid. 112, 1434-45 (1990); E. Magnusson, ibid. 7940-51. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja00...
(4) Cunningham, Terence P.; Cooper, David L.; Gerratt, Joseph; Karadakov, Peter B. & Raimondi, Mario (1997). "Chemical bonding in oxofluorides of hypercoordinatesulfur". Journal of the Chemical Society, Faraday Transactions. 93 (13): 2247–2254. doi:10.1039/A700708F. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/Artic...
(5) https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021...

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