Question

Draw the Lewis electron dot structure for `SF_2`. How many lone pairs of electrons are on the central atom?

Answer 1

`"There are 2 lone pairs on the central sulfur............"`

Explanation:

We have `2xx7+6` `"valence electrons"` to distribute.........each chlorine atom claims 7, and the sulfur atom claims 6.

Given that the central sulfur has 4 electron pairs surrounding it, 2 bonding, and 2 non-bonding, VESPER predicts that these are arranged in a tetrahedron to a first approx. The `/_F-S-F` `<109.5^@` given the sulfur lone-pairs compress the `/_F-S-F` bond angle.

This site reports that `/_F-S-F=98.3^@` which is compressed indeed (more so than in `OF_2`, where the corresponding `/_F-O-F=103^@`, an angle for which VESPER could account). Ask your inorganic prof to account for this compressed bond angle. If he (or she) answers you, post the account here.