How many pi and sigma bonds in CH3CO2H?
Hi there aquarius! About the bonds in C=O, one of them is sigma and the other is pi. There’s an explanation regarding it but I would need an illustration so here’s just the tip: when there’s a double bond (just like C=O), expect that one of them is sigma and the other is pi. For triple bonds, one is sigma, the other two are pi. I am confident that you can understand the reasons behind these in your studies. 🙂 The C-O-H part, the bonds here are all sigma (they involve only single bonds (another tip)). And yes, an atom can actually have more than one sigma bond like in the case of CH3 part. Here, the carbon is singly bonded to each hydrogen atom. Each of these single bonds is a sigma bond. In that way, the carbon has three sigma bonds, each of which links it to a hydrogen atom. If we’re going to include the single bond (which is again a sigma bond) between the carbon of CH3 and the carbon of CO2H, the carbon of CH3 has 4 sigma bonds. I hope this helps! God bless!!!
