MOLECULAR POLARITYFIELD NOTE 151 / 175
Is PCl5 polar or nonpolar?
PCl5 is nonpolar as an isolated trigonal bipyramidal molecule: three equatorial bond dipoles cancel together, and two axial bonds oppose each other.
Phosphorus Pentachloride · trigonal bipyramidal
The molecule in space
Drag to turn the molecule. Show angles to read the model geometry.
01 / MODEL RECORDIllustrative geometry. Atom sizes and bond thickness are illustrative.How model data is used ↗
Why PCl5 is nonpolar
Each P–Cl bond is polar (Cl is more electronegative), but PCl5 adopts a trigonal bipyramidal shape where the three equatorial bonds cancel among themselves and the two axial bonds cancel each other.
What to notice
The three equatorial P–Cl bonds balance around the plane, and the two axial bonds oppose each other. This describes an isolated trigonal bipyramidal molecule.
Common questions about PCl5
- 01
What does the Lewis structure of PCl5 show?
P forms five single P–Cl bonds, with no lone pair on the central P in the standard Lewis sketch. Each Cl has three lone pairs.
- 02
What is the molecular geometry of PCl5?
PCl5 has a trigonal bipyramidal molecular geometry. The 3D model shows representative bond angles of 120° and 90° and 180°. These are angles in the illustrative model, not experimental measurements.
- 03
What is the molar mass of PCl5?
PCl5 has an approximate molar mass of 208.22 g/mol, calculated from its formula using abridged standard atomic weights. Natural isotope variation can change the last digits.