Rules establishing correspondence between the topology of a molecular structure and the number of electrons which may be placed into its bonding molecular orbitals. In the origin of various electron-counting rules lies a general assumption that the completeness of the
valence electron shell of a molecular entity belonging to a certain structural type serves as the major criterion of
structural stability.
Source:
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997). XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
doi:10.1351/goldbook.
