TG EAMCET 3 May 2025 Shift 1 Paper

Both the Assertion and the Reason are correct statements, but the Reason does not explain the Assertion properly.
Phosphorus can make both phosphorus(III) chloride and phosphorus(V) chloride because phosphorus has empty d-orbitals in its outer shell. This lets phosphorus use these orbitals to form more than four bonds, so it can form compounds like PCl5 (phosphorus(V) chloride).

Nitrogen cannot form nitrogen (V) chloride (NCl5) because nitrogen does not have d-orbitals in its valence shell. It can only make up to four bonds, so it cannot expand its octet to form five bonds like phosphorus can.

Therefore, the main reason why phosphorus can form PCl5 but nitrogen cannot form NCl5 is the availability of d-orbitals in phosphorus, not the difference in electronegativity.