VSEPR Theory - Description

Description

The VSEPR rules mainly involve predicting the layout of electron pairs surrounding one or more central atoms in a molecule, which are bonded to two or more other atoms. The geometry of these central atoms in turn determines the geometry of the larger whole.

The number of electron pairs in the valence shell of a central atom is determined by drawing the Lewis structure of the molecule, expanded to show all lone pairs of electrons, alongside protruding and projecting bonds. Where two or more resonance structures can depict a molecule, the VSEPR model is applicable to any such structure. For the purposes of VSEPR theory, the multiple electron pairs in a double bond or triple bond are treated as though they were a single "pair".

These electron pairs are assumed to lie on the surface of a sphere centered on the central atom, and since they are negatively charged, tend to occupy positions that minimizes their mutual electrostatic repulsions by maximizing the distance between them. The number of electron pairs, therefore, determine the overall geometry that they will adopt.

For example, when there are two electron pairs surrounding the central atom, their mutual repulsion is minimal when they lie at opposite poles of the sphere. Therefore, the central atom is predicted to adopt a linear geometry. If there are 3 electron pairs surrounding the central atom, their repulsion is minimized by placing them at the vertices of an equilateral triangle centered on the atom. Therefore, the predicted geometry is trigonal. Likewise, for 4 electron pairs, the optimal arrangement is tetrahedral.

This overall geometry is further refined by distinguishing between bonding and nonbonding electron pairs. A bonding electron pair is involved in a sigma bond with an adjacent atom, and, being shared with that other atom, lies farther away from the central atom than does a nonbonding pair (lone pair), which is held close to the central atom by its positively-charged nucleus. Therefore, the repulsion caused by the lone pair is greater than the repulsion caused by the bonding pair. As such, when the overall geometry has two sets of positions that experience different degrees of repulsion, the lone pair(s) will tend to occupy the positions that experience less repulsion. In other words, the lone pair-lone pair (lp-lp) repulsion is considered to be stronger than the lone pair-bonding pair (lp-bp) repulsion, which in turn is stronger than the bonding pair-bonding pair (bp-bp) repulsion. Hence, the weaker bp-bp repulsion is preferred over the lp-lp or lp-bp repulsion.

This distinction becomes important when the overall geometry has two or more non-equivalent positions. For example, when there are 5 electron pairs surrounding the central atom, the optimal arrangement is a trigonal bipyramid. In this geometry, two positions lie at 180° angles to each other and 90° angles to the other 3 adjacent positions, whereas the other 3 positions lie at 120° to each other and at 90° to the first two positions. The first two positions therefore experience more repulsion than the last three positions. Hence, when there are one or more lone pairs, the lone pairs will tend to occupy the last three positions first.

The difference between lone pairs and bonding pairs may also be used to rationalize deviations from idealized geometries. For example, the H₂O molecule has four electron pairs in its valence shell: two lone pairs and two bond pairs. The four electron pairs are spread so as to point roughly towards the apices of a tetrahedron. However, the bond angle between the two O-H bonds is only 104.5°, rather than the 109.5° of a regular tetrahedron, because the two lone pairs (whose density or probability envelopes lie closer to the oxygen nucleus) exert a greater mutual repulsion than the two bond pairs.