Charge separation and stability in resonating structures I know that when there are like charges on a resonating structure, the farther apart they are, more stable is the structure due to reduction in repulsive forces.Is the same true for opposite charges? which structure is more stable -
1)with positive charge on one C and negative on adjacent C
2)with positive charge on one C and negative charge on C separated by 4 carbons between them?
The answer is 1) when positive and negative charges on C atoms are adjacent.This is because in the second Resonating Structure the charges have to be seprated and as both charges are opposite in nature they will attract each other and make the process of seprating them difficult making it unstabilized.