JEE Main · 2022 · Shift-IIeasyBOND-074

The oxide which contains an odd electron at the nitrogen atom is

Chemical Bonding · Class 11 · JEE Main Previous Year Question

Question

The oxide which contains an odd electron at the nitrogen atom is

Options
  1. a

    N2O\mathrm{N_2O}

  2. b

    NO2\mathrm{NO_2}

  3. c

    N2O3\mathrm{N_2O_3}

  4. d

    N2O5\mathrm{N_2O_5}

Correct Answerb

NO2\mathrm{NO_2}

Detailed Solution

🧠 An "odd-electron" nitrogen oxide has an odd number of total valence electrons, leaving one electron unpaired on N.

  • \ceN2O\ce{N2O}: 2(5)+6=162(5)+6=16 electrons → even ✗
  • \ceNO2\ce{NO2}: 5+2(6)=175+2(6)=17 electrons → odd ✓ — the odd electron resides on N (N has a "radical" lone electron in the Lewis structure)
  • \ceN2O3\ce{N2O3}: 2(5)+3(6)=282(5)+3(6)=28 electrons → even ✗
  • \ceN2O5\ce{N2O5}: 2(5)+5(6)=402(5)+5(6)=40 electrons → even ✗

\ceNO2\ce{NO2} is a brown gas with 17 electrons; it readily dimerises to colourless \ceN2O4\ce{N2O4} by pairing those odd electrons.

Answer: (b) \ceNO2\boxed{\text{Answer: (b) } \ce{NO2}}

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