Lewis structures and the octet rule jointly offer a succinct indication of the type of bonding that occurs in molecules and show the pattern of single and multiple bonds between the atoms. There are many compounds, however, that do not conform to the octet rule. The most common exceptions to the octet rule are the so-called hypervalent compounds. These are species in which there are more atoms attached to a central atom than can be accommodated by an octet of electrons. An example is sulfur hexafluoride, SF6, for which writing a Lewis structure with six S―F bonds requires that at ...(100 of 27318 words)