Which of the following are paramagnetic?

#O_2^(2-) ,O_2^- ,O_2#

1 Answer
anor277
May 31, 2018

Well #"peroxide"#, #""^(-)O-O^(-)# is A DIAMAGNET...

Explanation:

...the ion contains NO UNPAIRED electrons. And #"superoxide..."#, #O_2^(-)#, i.e.

![commons.wikimedia.org](useruploads.socratic.org)

...contains ONE UNPAIRED electron....this beast is PARAMAGNETIC.

And, surprisingly, dioxygen gas, #O_2#...is ALSO a PARAMAGNET. This cannot rationalized on the basis of Lewis dot formulae...and #"MOT"# must by invoked. The HOMO is DEGENERATE, and the two electrons occupy TWO orbitals...

![s10http://.lite.msu.edu](https://useruploads.socratic.org/oyF8NeTfSg6azTShrmL5_O2MODiagram.gif)

And so #"superoxide"#, and #"dioxygen"# are the paramagnets...

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