Drawing the Lewis Structure for SBr2

Viewing Notes:

  • SBr2 isn't the most common chemical compound (it doesn't even have a Wikipedia article!).
  • The Lewis structure for SBr2 is fairly straighforward and only involves single bonds.
  • For the SBr2 Lewis structure there are a total of 20 valence electrons available.
  • SBr2 is similar to the SCl2 Lewis structure.


Transcript: Hi, this is Dr. B. Let's do the Lewis structure for SBr2: sulfur dibromide. On the periodic table, Sulfur is in group 6, sometimes called 16; and Bromine is in group 7, sometimes called 17. We have two Bromines, though, so let's multiply that times 2. Six plus 14 is 20. So we have 20 valence electrons. We'll put Sulfur in the middle because it's the least electronegative and then we'll put Bromine on either side. So there we have our structural, kind of skeleton formula. What we want to do is, put some valence electrons—20 valence electrons around the molecule.

Let's start out by putting them between the atoms, form a chemical bond. We've used 4. And then on the outside, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16; and on the inside, 18, 20. We've used all 20 valence electrons. Let's see how we do with our octet. This Bromine has 8, and this Bromine has 8, so those outer shells are full. In the center, Sulfur has 8 as well, and we've used 20 valence electrons. So that's the Lewis structure for SBr2. If we wanted to draw a structural formula we could draw it like this right here.

And that's it. This is Dr. B., and thanks for watching.