Valence Versus Oxidation State
Because of the ambiguity of the term valence, nowadays other notations are used in practice. Beside the system of oxidation numbers as used in Stock nomenclature for coordination compounds, and the lambda notation, as used in the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry, "oxidation state" is a more clear indication of the electronic state of atoms in a molecule.
The "oxidation state" of an atom in a molecule gives the number of valence electrons it has gained or lost. In contrast to the valency number, the oxidation state can be positive (for an electropositive atom) or negative (for an electronegative atom).
Elements in a high oxidation state can have a valence larger than four. For example, in perchlorates, chlorine has seven valence bonds and ruthenium, in the +8 oxidation state in ruthenium(VIII) tetroxide, has even eight valence bonds.
Read more about this topic: Valence (chemistry)
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