Stanton D. answered • 07/01/21
Tutor to Pique Your Sciences Interest
Hi Lily W.,
the "ethyl linker" is that squiggly 2-carbon bridge between the smaller ring and the terminal amine nitrogen. I don't know if your instructor wants you to circle the bonds to the carbons at each end (to a carbon on a ring, at one end, and to a nitrogen, at the other end) as well, or just the carbons and their pendant hydrogens and their various electrons. Doesn't matter much, it's those two carbons that are the named entity. (Well, it's sqiggly when you step up to the next level of abstraction in drawing the structure, which is just to show any non-carbons as element symbols, and to show carbons as the joint between straight line segments which represent bonds. Also, only terminal hydrogen H's are written, all others (on rings or on aliphatic chains) are omitted.) The Lewis structure is what you start drawing, however, so that you appreciate that a certain number of valence electrons are used to make bonds. This will seem obvious, perhaps -- but then you will have to account for bonding in (N-N-O), for example, which isn't so straightforward. And "aromatic" systems. And molecular orbitals, oh my!
-- Cheers, --Mr. d.
