Its empirical formula is c 2 h 3 more generally a vinylic cation is any disubstituted trivalent carbon where the carbon bearing the positive charge is part of a double bond and is sp hybridized in the chemical literature substituted vinylic cations are often referred to as vinyl cations and understood to. A vinyl cation is a positively charged molecule a cation where the positive charge is located on a vinyl group ch ch2. Occasionally carbocations that bear more than one positively charged carbon atom are also encountered e g ethylene dication c 2 h 2 4.