Question

The bond order of individual carbon-carbon bonds in benzene is:

• A. one
• B. two
• C. between one and two
• D. one and two, alternately

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

between one and two

Benzene is a resonance hybrid of two resonating structures. Bon dorder can be calculated as:

$\text{Bond Order}=\frac{\text{Number of Resonating bonds}}{\text{Number of resonating structures}}=\frac{3}{2}=1.5$

The correct answer is between one and two.