Skeletal formula

• What us skeletal formula

  It is a drawing if the ‘skeleton’ of the molecule- it shows the bonds but doesn’t show the atoms/elements
• How is carbon represented in skeletal formula

  There is a carbon at every point of the bonds that make up the compound
• Do we draw carbon-hydrogen bonds in skeletal formula

  Now we only show the carbons and the bonds to any non-hydrogen atoms because we assume that a carbon is bonded to 4 hydrogens unless a bind to another element is shown.
• What does skeletal formula show

  The arrangement of atoms and the structure if the molecule- it does this by showing the C-C bonds
• In skeletal formula, what do we do if we have an atom that isn’t carbon or hydrogen

  We write out the symbol of the element in the position that it’s supposed to be in
• If there are hydrogen atoms attached to non-carbon atoms in skeletal formula, do we write the hydrogens

  Yes, but we write the hydrogens along with the element it’s bonded to e.g. If there are 2 H’s coming off an N atom, in skeletal formula, we write it as NH2
• What does skeletal formula for non-hydrocarbon molecules show

  • carbon-carbon bonds
  • A symbol for any non carbon and non hydrogen atom
  • A symbol for a hydrogen atom when it’s bonded to any non carbon atom
  • Binds between carbon and another atom, which is neither carbon nor hydrogen
• How do we draw skeletal formula

  We draw it in a zigzag- the formula zigzags each time there’s a car in so we know exactly where and how many carbons there are
• How do we draw skeletal formula if there is a double or triple bond

  • if there’s a double bond, we can draw it zigzag with two lines on top of each other to indicate a double bond
  • If there’s a triple bond, we show the formula with the triple bond linearly/straight, so skeletal formula for a hydrocarbon with a triple bond is completely straight
• How do we draw skeletal formula for a hydrocarbon with a side chain 


  We draw the side chain the same as the other molecule- if there is one carbon side chain, we draw it as a line coming off of the carbon that it is on
• How do we draw the skeletal formula of a cyclic molecule

  We use The exact same rules as for a linear molecule, but we just draw it in a cyclic shape
• How do we go from structural to skeletal formula

  We use the structural formula given to draw out a displayed formula and then we use the displayed formula to draw the skeletal formula