Determing the Hybridization of a Molecule

• 1). Draw the Lewis dot diagram for the molecule by using the periodic table to determine the number of valence electrons of each element in the molecule. Links for help in drawing a Lewis dot diagram are listed in the Resources section.
  
  
• 2). Determine the number of bonding domains for the molecule based on the resulting Lewis dot structure. Bonding domains indicate a sharing or giving up of electrons and are responsible for the geometric shape of the molecule. Any bond, whether it is a single, double or triple bond, counts as only one bonding domain. A lone pair of electrons also affects the geometrical shape of a molecule and counts as a bonding domain. Help in determining bonding domains from the Lewis dot structure is also available in the Resources section.
  
  
• 3). Identify the geometric shape of the molecule based on the number of bonding domains. The VSEPR theory identifies the shape of a molecule by the number of bonding domains. One bonding domain results in a liner molecule, while two bonding domains result in a trigonal planar molecule. If you need to look up the shape of the molecule, a link for VSEPR table geometry is provided in the Resources section.
  
  
• 4). Determine the hybridization of the molecule based on its geometric shape. Much as the number of bonding domains corresponds to a specific geometric shape, the shape of the molecule corresponds to a specific hybridization, such as sp3 hybridization for tetrahedral molecules, sp2 for trigonal planar and so on. The VSEPR table has the hybridization values for each geometric shape.