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Leslie Coduti

What is the hybridisation of trifluoromethyl free radical?

Andrew Forrest  Follow

Hyperconjugation between the orbital that contains the lone pair and the $\ce{C-F}$ antibonding orbital contributes to the pyramidalization of $\ce{CF3^·}$ radical:

pyramidal geometry of CF3

In the planar geometry the orbitals are perpendicular and no overlap occurs.

References

  1. Carey, F. A.; Sundberg, R. J. Advanced Organic Chemistry, Part A: Structure and Mechanisms, 5th edition.; Springer: New York, 2008. ISBN 978-0-387-68346-1.

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Duncan Mc Cornock  Follow
This is a very popular, albeit very organic chemistry, view on that matter. The explanation in terms of Bents rule might be much easier. Also that hand-wavy argument repulses more cannot be proven, and is likely as wrong as spd hybridisation in hypercoordinate molecules. The second part is actually quite nice thoughMore
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