What are electron deficient compounds? Are BCI3and SiCI4 electron deficient species?
Explain.


In an electron-deficient compound, the octet of electrons is not complete, i.e., the central metal atom has an incomplete octet. Therefore, it needs electrons to complete its octet.

(i) BCI3
BCI3 is an appropriate example of an electron-deficient compound. B has 3 valence electrons. After forming three covalent bonds with chlorine, the number of electrons around it increases to 6. However, it is still short of two electrons to complete its octet.

(ii) SiCI4
The electronic configuration of silicon is ns2 np2

. This indicates that it has four valence electrons. After it forms four covalent bonds with four chlorine atoms, its electron count increases to eight. Thus, SiCI4 is not an electron-deficient compound.