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lone pair

British  

noun

  1. chem a pair of valency electrons of opposite spin that are not shared between the atoms in a molecule and are responsible for the formation of coordinate bonds

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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In trigonal bipyramidal arrangements, repulsion is minimized when every lone pair is in an equatorial position.

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

Like ammonia, amines are weak bases due to the lone pair of electrons on their nitrogen atoms:

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

Click on each bond type or lone pair at right to add that group to the central atom.

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

Group 15 elements such as nitrogen have five valence electrons in the atomic Lewis symbol: one lone pair and three unpaired electrons.

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

An sp3 hybrid orbital can also hold a lone pair of electrons.

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

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