What is the Charge on ClO (Hypochlorite ion)? And Why?

The Charge of ClO (Hypochlorite ion) is 1-.

But the question is how can you find the charge on ClO (Hypochlorite ion)?

Well there are 2 methods by which you can find the charge of ClO.

Lets dive right into these methods one by one.

You can also refer to the below video from which you will learn to find charge of any ion.

Method 1: By looking at what it is bonded to

The charge of ClO (Hypochlorite ion) can be found out by looking at what it is bonded to.

So let’s take some examples of compounds that contain ClO; like NaClO, HClO, etc.

Example 1: NaClO
In NaClO, the ClO is bonded to Sodium (Na).
You know that the ionic charge of Na is 1+.
So you can easily say that the charge of ClO should be 1-, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the charge of ClO in NaClO is 1-.

Example 2: HClO
In HClO, the ClO is bonded to Hydrogen (H).
And again, you know that the ionic charge of H is 1+.
So here also you can easily say that the charge of ClO should be 1-, then only it will get canceled out.
Hence the charge of ClO in HClO is 1-.

As seen from the above examples,
The charge of ClO is 1-.

In this way, you can easily find the charge of ClO by looking at what it is bonded to.

Method 2: By calculating the formal charge using lewis structure

In order to calculate the formal charge on ClO (Hypochlorite ion), you should know the Lewis dot structure of ClO (Hypochlorite ion).

Here is the lewis structure of ClO.

Now using the above lewis structure of ClO, you have to find the formal charge on each atom that is present in the ClO molecule.

For calculating the formal charge, you need to remember this formula;

Formal charge = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2

You can see the bonding and nonbonding electrons of ClO from the image given below.

So now let’s calculate the formal charge on each individual atom present in ClO.

Formal charge on Chlorine atom:
Valence electrons = 7 (as it is in group 17 on periodic table) ^[1]
Nonbonding electrons = 6
Bonding electrons = 2

So according to the formula of formal charge, you will get;

Formal charge on Chlorine = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2 = 7 – 6 – (2/2) = 0

So the formal charge on chlorine atom is 0.

Formal charge on Oxygen atom:
Valence electron = 6 (as it is in group 16 on periodic table) ^[2]
Nonbonding electrons = 6
Bonding electrons = 2

So according to the formula of formal charge, you will get;

Formal charge on Oxygen = Valence electrons – Nonbonding electrons – (Bonding electrons)/2 = 6 – 6 – (2/2) = 1-

So the formal charge on oxygen atom is 1-.

Now let’s put all these charges on the lewis dot structure of ClO.

So there is overall 1- charge left on the entire molecule.

This indicates that the ClO (Hypochlorite ion) has 1- charge.

I hope you have understood the above calculations of ClO (Hypochlorite ion). But for your tests, you don’t need to remember the entire calculations. You should just try to remember that ClO has 1- charge.

Check out some other related topics for your practice.

Related topics:
Charge of Tellurium (Te)
Charge of Krypton (Kr)
Charge on Bromate ion (BrO3)
Charge on SCN
Charge on H3PO4