Topic summary
Trigonal planar
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Trigonal planar molecular geometry.
In chemistry, trigonal planar is a molecular geometry model with one atom at the center and three atoms at the corners of an equilateral triangle, called peripheral atoms, all in one plane. In an ideal trigonal planar species, all three ligands are identical and all bond angles are 120°. Such species belong to the point groupD3h. Molecules where the three ligands are not identical, such as H2CO, deviate from this idealized geometry. Examples of molecules with trigonal planar geometry include boron trifluoride (BF3), formaldehyde (H2CO), phosgene (COCl2), and sulfur trioxide (SO3). Some ions with trigonal planar geometry include nitrate (NO
3), carbonate (CO
3), and guanidinium (C(NH
2)
3). In organic chemistry, planar, three-connected carbon centers that are trigonal planar are often described as having sp hybridization.