Lewis structure of XeF2 that comes closer to reality?

Meanwhile, the hypervalency of Xe in XeF2 is explained by the 3c4e bond, where the p orbitals of the 3 atoms overlap to form a delocalized system of 3 MO's in which 4 electrons (two from the Xe p orbital and one each from the p orbitals of the F atoms). This leads to a bond order of 1/2 per Xe-F group.


Obviously, the lewis representation that can be found everywhere on the Internet cannot be correct:


[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EI4kp.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EI4kp.png)


That would indicate a bond order of 1 per F-Xe Group, not 1/2.


As far as I know, resonance drawings are used to indicate delocalized bonds, so they also represent bond orders of 1/2. Shouldn't XeF2 then be represented as a lewis diagram as follows:


[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/V7WM0.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/V7WM0.jpg)


And I also wonder what orbitals are those 3 lone pairs at Xe? s,p,p? Or 3 sp2 hybride orbitals (which would make more sense for the geometry but less sense because hybridisation just makes sense for bonds)?




Just after XeF2 was discovered, D. F. Smith published a short communication [Xenon Difluoride](https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.1733476) *J. Chem. Phys.* 38, 270 (1963) mentioning the electronic structure of your second drawing.


Smith conducted infrared spectroscopy of XeF2 and wrote:


[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BeZLR.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BeZLR.png)


Then C. A. Coulson published [The nature of the bonding in xenon fluorides and related molecules](https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1964/JR/JR9640001442) *J. Chem. Soc.*, 1964, 1442-1454, which considered the validity of four models (plus some sub-models) of XeF2 bonding.


Coulson adds more resonance structures in addition to the two mentioned by Smith, including a purely ionic F- Xe2+ F- resonance structure.


For a more recent article on the topic, see [The essential role of charge-shift bonding in hypervalent prototype XeF2](http://jupiter.chem.uoa.gr/thanost/papers/papers7/NatChem_5(2013)417.pdf) *Nature Chemistry* 5, 417–422 (2013). ([official link](https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.1619))


Overall, ionic contributions do need to be considered.


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