What are electron deficient compounds? Are BCl3 and SiCl4 electron deficient species? Explain.
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In an electron-deficient compound, the octet of electrons is not complete, i.e., the central metal atom has an incomplete octet. Hence, it needs electrons to complete its octet.
(i) SiCl4
The electronic configuration of silicon is ns2 np2 . This indicates that it has 4 valence electrons. After it forms 4 covalent bonds with 4 chlorine atoms, its electron count increases to 8. Thus, SiCl4 is not an electron-deficient compound.
(ii) BCl3
It is an appropriate example of an electron-deficient compound. B has three valence electrons. After forming 3 covalent bonds with chlorine, the number of electrons around it increases to six. However, it is still short of 2 electrons to complete its octet.
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