Chemical Bonding: CH₃OCH₃ Lewis Structure

Drawing the Lewis Structure for CH₃OCH₃

Viewing Notes:

• In the CH₃OCH₃ Lewis structure, the oxygen atom goes in the center. This is an exception since the least electronegative atom is Carbon (remember Hydrogen atoms always go on the outside).
• CH₃OCH₃ is a type of organic compound called an Ether. The Ether functional group is made up of two Carbon atoms with an Oxygen atom between them (connected with single bonds).
• The Lewis structure for CH₃OCH₃ is the simpliest Ether possible.
• In the Lewis structure for CH₃OCH₃ there are a total of 20 valence electrons.

This is the CH3OCH3 Lewis structure: dimethyl ether. The way this is written really tells us how we're going to draw the Lewis structure. We'll put a Carbon, then Oxygen, then another Carbon, and then our Hydrogens, they'll go around the outside like so. For the CH3OCH3 Lewis structure, we have a total of 20 valence electrons.

We'll put 2 between the atoms to form chemical bonds, so we've used 16. And we'll put the last 4 on the center Oxygen to complete its octet. So we've used all 20 valence electrons. Each of the Carbons has 8 valence electrons. The Oxygen has 8 valence electrons, and the Hydrogens have 2. So all of the outer shells are full for the atoms in the CH3OCH3 Lewis structure.

This is Dr. B., thanks for watching.