Is SCl2 Polar or Nonpolar?
Sulfur dichloride (SCl2) is a polar molecule. It contains two pairs of electrons and two polar bonds, which confer a net dipole moment on the molecule due to their geometric arrangement.
Sulfur has six valence electrons. Two of the electrons are shared with two chlorine atoms to form two covalent bonds. The remaining four electrons remain as non-bonded lone pairs. The lone pair electrons repel each other and the covalent bonds, thus giving the molecule a bent structure similar to water molecules.
Chlorine has a higher electronegativity than sulfur and attracts the bonded electron pair closer to itself. This gives the chlorine atoms a partial negative charge and a partial positive charge to the sulfur. The presence of asymmetric polar bonds makes sulfur dichloride a polar molecule.
