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The outer shell on phosphorus (P) has 5 electrons -- it needs 3 electrons

The outer shell on chlorine (Cl) has 7 electrons -- it needs 1 electron

The electronegativity of P is about 2.2

The electronegativity of Cl is about 3.2 -- it will attract electrons slightly more

So the simplest arrangement here is: PCl3 (P shares three electrons, and each Cl shares one.) They are just sharing electrons (covalent bond).

If the electronegativities were a little stronger (delta of 1.7 is the magic number), then you could have an ionic bond -- but in this case both atoms need electrons, so ionic bonding wouldn't occur with P and Cl.

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