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lone pair

British

noun

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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lone pair

For example, NH3 reacts with BF3 because the lone pair on nitrogen can be shared with the boron atom:

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

It does not matter which X is replaced with a lone pair because the molecules can be rotated to convert positions.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

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

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

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

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

The nitrogen atom is sp3 hybridized with one hybrid orbital occupied by the lone pair.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023