Why can phosphorus have 5 bonds while nitrogen cannot?

Asked Nov 05 '16 at 18:05

Active Mar 09 '18 at 06:25

Viewed 5,964 times

Phosphorus can form 5 bonds like in the case of phosphate. While nitrogen is known to make a maximum of 4 bonds (3 covalent, 1 dative covalent). But why is this so?

Is it because nitrogen doesn't have available d orbitals while phosphorus has available d orbitals? Or does the presence of d orbitals have nothing to do with this and it's the sizes of both atoms that allows them to make more bonds?

edited Mar 09 '18 at 06:25

Gaurang Tandon

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asked Nov 05 '16 at 18:05

EIG

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This is a complex subject, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervalent_molecule and http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja00178a014 – ParaH2 Nov 05 '16 at 19:04
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They (and all the other elements) have "available" d (and higher) orbitals - whether they're occupied is another matter. – Todd Minehardt Nov 05 '16 at 19:34
related http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/42750/how-can-the-size-of-atom-be-the-cause-of-octet-expansion – Mithoron Nov 06 '16 at 00:12
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Does this answer your question? Why can't NH5 form? – Nisarg Bhavsar Jun 27 '21 at 05:25

Why can phosphorus have 5 bonds while nitrogen cannot?

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