Question

Give an example of electron deficient hydride.

Answer 1

Hint: As we know that hydrides are the anion of hydrogen represented as ${{H}^{-}}$. We can also say that all compounds containing covalently bound H atoms are called hydrides like water (${{H}_{2}}O$) is a hydride of oxygen and ammonia ($N{{H}_{3}}$) is a hydride of nitrogen. So here we have to give an example of an electron deficient hydride compound.

Complete answer:
Let us understand about electron deficient compounds and hydrides followed by giving the example of electron deficient hydride as follows:-
-Electron deficient compounds: The compounds that do not have a sufficient number of electrons to form a covalent bond are known as electron deficient compounds or molecules. These types of compounds are generally formed by group 13 elements where the central atom cannot fulfill the octet rule and hence they usually exist in polymeric forms.
-Hydrides: All compounds containing covalently bound H atoms are defined as hydrides like water (${{H}_{2}}O$) is a hydride of oxygen and ammonia ($N{{H}_{3}}$) is a hydride of nitrogen. These are also referred to the compounds and ions in which hydrogen is covalently attached to a less electronegative element.
-Diborane (${{B}_{2}}{{H}_{6}}$ ) is an example of an electron deficient hydride which is the polymeric form of $B{{H}_{3}}$ . They do not have a sufficient number of electrons to form normal covalent bonds and hence exist in polymeric form.

Note:
-Remember that the hydrides that have the exact number of electrons to form a covalent bond are called electron precise hydrides whereas the hydrides that have more number of electrons than required for covalent bonding are called electron rich hydrides.