Question

Can the octet rule be broken?

Answer 1

But of course...

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and we see that in many molecules, like the trigonal bipyramidal `"PCl"_5`, the octahedral `"SF"_6`, and the square pyramidal `"ClF"_5`. There are many other examples among transition metal complexes that I won't mention.

Here, `10` valence electrons surround phosphorus.

Here, `12` valence electrons surround sulfur.

Here, `12` valence electrons surround chlorine.

This is possible because all three central atoms have access to orbitals on the third quantum level, `n = 3`. In all of these cases, the `3d` orbitals can be used, allowing extra space to store more than `8` total valence electrons.