Why phosphorus forms PCl5 but nitrogen does not form NCl5?

Nitrogen is exceptionally small in size as compared to other group 15 elements. Besides, nitrogen has no d orbital to accomodate more than 3 electrons. Due to absence of d-orbital in Nitrogen, it can’t form NCl5 where due to presence of d- orbital in Phosphorus, it can form PCl5.

Why NCl3 does not exist while PCl3 exist?

Whereas N has no such vacant orbital. So when both of them form compounds with nonmetals, i.e., accept electrons, N generally accepts only 3, as it can only accommodate extra 3 electrons in the 2p orbital. Where as P can accept more than 3 as it has vacant 3d orbital. Therefore, N forms NCl3 while, P forms PCl3 & PCl5.

Why phosphorus form Pentahalide but nitrogen does not?

Nitrogen cannot increase its coordination number beyond four due to the absence of d-orbitals in its valence shell. Phosphorus forms pentahalides because it has vacant d-orbitals to extend its octet.

Why does nitrogen does not form NCl5?

Nitrogen (1s22s22p3) lacks 2d-orbitals in which electrons of 2s can be excited to make five orbitals unpaired.

Why nitrogen can form NCl3?

There is no vacant d-orbital in the outermost orbit of Nitrogen. There are valent d-orbitals in the outer most orbit of phosphorus and hence it shows variable covalence 3 and 5 in ground state and excited state respectively. Hence nitrogen forms only NCl3 but phosphorus forms PCl3 and PCl5 both.

Do NCl3 exists?

PCl3 and PCl5 both exist; NCl3 exists but NCl5 does not exist.It is due to – Sarthaks eConnect | Largest Online Education Community.

Which of the following does not exist NCl3?

Why PCl 3 exist but NCl3 does not exist.

Why nitrogen forms pentoxide but not Pentahalide?

Formation of any pentahalides requires sp3d hybridisation of the central atom. This is obtained by the excitement of electrons of the central atom to empty d orbital. Since nitrogen has no d-orbital it cannot undergo sp3d hybridisation and hence cannot form pentahalides.

Why does PCl3 and PCl5 exist?

Phosphorus is a period 3 element. Hence it has an empty d-orbital which the period 2 elements do not have. As phosphorus initially has valency as 3 it forms PCl3, and due to this expanded octet, PCl5 can also be formed.

Why nitrogen is relatively inactive element?

Nitrogen in its diatomic form has a very high bond dissociation enthalpy that is about 941.4 kJ/mol. This is due to the presence of pπ-pπ multiple bonding in nitrogen. Hence, nitrogen is relatively an unreactive element due to the high bond dissociation energy of its N≡N triple bond.