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Problem: draw the lone pairs of the following structure

Answer

I was completing some problems from my textbook and found that the answer of this problem seemed incorrect to me.

From my limited understanding, carbon atoms with a negative formal charge must have 5 electrons (3 bonds and 1 lone pair), but this answer didn't match up with this rule.

I would really appreciate it if someone could tell me what I'm missing here.

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1 Answer 1

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The hydrogen atoms are not shown, so this is really $\ce{CH3CH2CH2CH2-}$ where the rightmost carbon atom has a lone pair and a formal negative charge.

The species is the n-butyl anion:

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    $\begingroup$ Oh my god, I completely forgot about that! I feel like such an idiot right now haha. Thank you so much! $\endgroup$
    – Jack
    Sep 17, 2016 at 3:07
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    $\begingroup$ You don't have to specify the license of your images if you are creating them yourself. This is already implied by the terms of service and the general license the site operates on. $\endgroup$ Sep 17, 2016 at 5:01
  • $\begingroup$ @Martin-マーチン Alright, removed and noted. $\endgroup$
    – DHMO
    Sep 17, 2016 at 5:08

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