Question

Identify the hybridization of the oxygen in CH3OCH3

Answer 1

We have the compound CH₃-O-CH₃ (an ether). To identify the hybridization of the oxygen atom we first need to sketch oxygen's electronic configuration as follows (Oxygen's atomic number = 8).

O = 1s² (↑↓) 2s² (↑↓) 2p⁴ (↑↓, ↑, ↑)

I'm showing the arrow configuration to see more clearly the hybridization. When the orbitals hybridize it means they join together, in this case the 2s orbital and the three 2p orbitals will combine to generate 4sp³ orbitals. You can see we have 2 orbitals with both arrows, these represent the lone pairs of the oxygen, and we have 2 orbitals with only one arrow, these represent the bonding sites where O bonds with C in the compound.

So, the hybridization of O in ethers is sp³.