Many structures of phosphorus- and sulfur-containing compounds are drawn with some PPO and PPS bonds. These bonds are not the typical p bonds we€™ve considered, which involve the overlap of two p orbitals. They result instead from the overlap of a d orbital on the phosphorus or sulfur atom with a p orbital on oxygen. This type of p bonding is sometimes used as an explanation for why H3PO3 has the first structure below rather than the second:

Draw a picture showing how a d orbital and a p orbital overlap to form a p bond.

Transcribed Image Text:

OH OH