Tutorial review: Bohr circular orbit diagrams for some fluorine-containing molecules

Examples are provided of Bohr circular orbit diagrams to represent the electronic structures of some fluorine-containing molecules. The orbit diagrams are constructed from a 2n × n factorisation of the atomic shell-structure formula 2n², with n = 1, 2, 3, … Particular attention is given to orbit diagrams and the associated valence bond structures for the hypercoordinate molecules and ions PF₅ and NF₅, F₃⁻ and XeF₂, IF₅ and XeF₅⁺, XeF₅⁻, IF₈⁻, XeF₈²⁻, ReF₈⁻ and TaF₈³⁻, ZrF₈⁴⁻, ZrF₇³⁻, Re₂F₈²⁻, and high-spin CoF₆³⁻.Aspects of the electronic structures of D_3h-symmetry PF₅ and NF₅ are contrasted via the use of orbital valence bond considerations, and the results of STO-3G valence bond calculations are reported for these species.