Shapes of Molecules part 1

This is a topic that students tend to struggle with. You have to be good at dot and cross diagrams before
you can tackle this.

VSEPR (Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Theory)

You may not have heard of the VSEPR abbreviation but it is worth knowing, as it is a good reminder of the
theory behind this topic.

the reason any molecule adopts its shape is to minimise repulsion

The electrons position themselves as far apart as possible to minimize repulsion, which gives the shapes
in the next section.

The repulsion comes from electrons in bonds, lone pairs or both.

Basic Shapes
As with most Chemistry topics there are a number of rules that you can follow that will allow you to work
out the shapes of most molecules:

1. identify the central atom i.e. there is only one of it in the formula! For example, in SF6, the S is the
central atom or in CH4, the C is the central atom.

2. how many valence electrons the central atom has around it. What group is it in? e.g. carbon has 4
valence electrons as it is in group 4.

3. how many bonds are being made? The formula tells you this. For SF6, there must be 6 x S-F
bonds. This tells you how many of the valence electrons are being used in the bonds. For example,
CH4, carbon has 4 valence electrons and forms 4 bonds therefore, all the carbon electrons are
used (1 electron per bond from carbon).

4. Dont worry about the atoms on the outside (not the central atom), assume they just contribute
one electron to each bond.

5. lone pairs: are there any electrons left over? If yes, these are lone pairs. Two electrons = 1 lone
pair.

6. number of bonds and the number of lone pairs: add them a total number. You then can use
the basic shapes listed below to know which shape to draw. For example, 4 bonds and no lone
pairs = 4 in total, therefore it is tetrahedral. Or 2 bonds and 2 lone pairs = 4 in total but because of
the lone pairs the shape is slightly different from tetrahedral (see below).

We will now look at some examples to illustrate these points. It is essential that you know these shapes
and bond angles and have an example of each shape:
Linear: BeCl2

Berrylium is in group 2, therefore has two valence electrons and makes two
bonds to the chloro atoms.

Trigonal Planar: BCl3

There are three valence electrons around the central boron atom and it
makes three bonds.

This type of molecule is planar or flat. Carbon-carbon double bonds adopt

this shape.

Tetrahedral: CH4

Tetrahedral is a very common shape throughout chemistry.

We know that carbon has 4 valence electrons and in this example it is

making 4 bonds.

Remember the angle too as it is important for the next examples.

Trigonal pyramidal (or pyramidal): NH3

Nitrogen has 5 valence electrons but we only have 3 bonds, therefore we

are left with two electrons too many. These extra electrons are a lone pair
i.e. not bonded to anything.

This pyramidal shape is very similar to the tetrahedral shape above.

Instead of having a bond at the top we have replaced it with a lone pair.

The lone pair introduces even more repulsion between the lone pair and the bonded electrons, which
causes a reduction in bond angle from 109.5 to 107.
Bent: H2O

Some people assume that water is linear as it only has three atoms.

However, it is again based on the tetrahedral structure: 2 bonds and 2 lone

pairs = 4 in total.

The two lone pairs cause even more repulsion than the single lone pair in
ammonia.

We now have repulsion between lone pairs, between lone pairs and bonded pairs and between bonded
pairs, resulting in a further reduced angle (this is a classic exam question).

So for strengths of repulsion we can conclude that:

Lone pair:lone pair repulsion > lone pair:bonding pair repulsion > bonding pair:bonding pair repulsion

Trigonal bipyramidal: PCl5

Phosphorus has 5 valence electrons and makes 5 bonds to the chloro

atoms. Just be careful with the bond angles.

Octahderal: SF6

Sulphur has 6 valence electrons and forms 6 bonds, with all angles being 90.

So those are the basic shapes. It is the absolute minimum to know these well. You can use them as a
building block for other examples.
Similar Shapes
You will become very familiar with the shapes of common molecules like CH4, NH3 and H2O.

If you then get different examples, e.g. SiH4, PH3 or H2S, you can assume that they are the same shapes as
CH4, NH3 and H2O respectively.

Why? If you compare CH4 with SiH4, carbon and silicon are in the same group, and therefore have the
same outer electron arrangement.

This is the same if you compare as nitrogen with phosphorus and also oxygen with sulphur. Therefore the
shapes will be the same.