Shapes of Covalent Molecules

The shape and bond angle (angle between 2 bonds) of covalent compounds depends on:
• The number of electron pairs around the central atom

• Whether the electron pairs are bonding electrons or lone pairs
From this comes the VSEPR theory
Valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory

The VSEPR theory helps us to determine the shapes of covalent molecules through the following statements:
• Electrons are negatively charged; hence they will repel each other and be as far away as possible
from each other to minimize repulsion.
• Electrons will not repel each other with the same strength. They follow the following trend
Order of repulsion strength:
lone pair-lone pair > lone pair-bond pair > bond pair-bond pair
To determine the shape of a molecule using the VSEPR theory, follow the guidelines below:
1. Determine the total number of electrons (Valence + shared) found surrounding the central atom.
(Dot-and-cross diagram might be useful)
2. Find the number of electron pairs by dividing the total number of electrons by two. This is the valence
shell electron pair number (VSEP / steric number)
3. Determine how many pairs is/are bond pairs and lone pairs. (A single, double or triple bond is counted
as one bond pair)
4. Refer to the nice table on the next page (Knowing the table by heart or brain would be awesome
BTW) to obtain the shape of the molecule.
VSEP Number Shape of the Molecule

1 Linear
2 Linear
3 Trigonal Planar / Bent (non-linear)
Tetrahedral / Trigonal pyramidal / Bent
4
(non-linear)/ Linear
Trigonal Bipyramidal / See saw / T -shaped /
5
Linear
Octahedral / Square pyramidal / Square
6
planar
7 Pentagonal Bipyramidal
Number
VSEP / of
steric atoms Number
Electron Molecular Bond
number bonded of lone Hybridisation Example Representation
geometry shape angle
to the pairs
central
atom
1 1 0 Linear Linear s 180° H2
2 0 Linear Linear CO2
2 sp 180°
1 1 Linear Linear CN-
Trigonal Trigonal
3 0 120° AlBr3
planar planar
3 sp2
Trigonal Non-linear
2 1 119° SO2
planar (bent)
Trigonal
1 2 Linear - O2
planar
4 0 Tetrahedral Tetrahedral 109.5° CH4
4 3 1 Tetrahedral pyramidal sp3 107° NH3
Non-linear
2 2 Tetrahedral 104.5° H2O
(bent)
1 3 Tetrahedral Linear - Cl2
90°,
Trigonal Trigonal
5 0 120°, PF5
bipyramidal bipyramidal
180°
173.1°
Trigonal
5 4 1 See saw sp3d and SeH4
bipyramidal
101.6°
87.5°
Trigonal
3 2 T-shape and ICl3
bipyramidal
<180°
Trigonal
2 3 Linear 180° BrF2
bipyramidal
6 6 0 Octahedral Octahedral sp3d2 90° SF6

Square
5 1 Octahedral 81.9° IF5
pyramidal
Square
4 2 Octahedral 90° XeF4
planar
Effect of lone pair on bond angle

Lone pairs cause a stronger repulsion. Comparing methane and ammonia, we see that they both have 4 pairs
of electrons. They must have a tetrahedral electron geometry. Technically, the bond angle was supposed to
be 109.5° but the lone pair will push more strongly on the bond pair making the angle smaller (107°).
Likewise with water, the oxygen also has 4 pairs of electrons, still tetrahedral electron geometry but again
the angle is not 109.5° due to the lone pairs and as it has 2 lone pairs, the push is even stronger, making the
angle 104.5°.
For the exams (according to the syllabus), only the following ones will be assessed.
• BF3 (trigonal planar, 120°)

• CO2 (linear, 180°)
• CH4 (tetrahedral, 109.5°) The ones in blue in the table
• NH3 (pyramidal, 107°)
• H2O (non-linear, 104.5°)
• SF6 (octahedral, 90°)
• PF5 (trigonal bipyramidal, 120° and 90°)
This doesn’t mean that you will only have those 7 molecules. You could be asked a question about, for
example, Carbon tetrachloride, CCl4, which is analogous to methane, CH4 and thus CCl4 has bond angle 109.5°
and is tetrahedral in shape with sp3 hybridisation.
Drawings
The molecules represented above were drawn in 2D while in fact they are 3D molecules. To account for this,
we devised a special way of representing bonds when they will not fall on the same plane.
Consider for example H2O
We know that water has a non-linear V-shape as follows:
All the atoms of the water molecule can be placed on the same plane. Hence, it can be drawn as
Some molecules don’t have atoms who will all fit on the same plane. Consider CH4. It is a tetrahedral
compound. In 3D it looks like this:
All the atoms do not fall on the same plane. Only 3 of them do: the carbon and 2 hydrogens.
You will be left with 2 hydrogen atoms out of plane, one going into the plane and one going out of the plane.
Into the plane
Out of the plane
To represent those two, we will use to represent “into the plane” and to represent “out of the
plane”.
Hence, instead of drawing methane as , it will be drawn as to show that it is in

3D and not on the same plane. The other 2 hydrogen atoms are on the same plane, so they do not change.

Shapes of Covalent Molecules

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Shapes of Covalent Molecules

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The shape and bond angle (angle between 2 bonds) of covalent compounds depends on:

• The number of electron pairs around the central atom

Valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory

VSEP Number Shape of the Molecule

4 0 Tetrahedral Tetrahedral 109.5° CH4

4 3 1 Tetrahedral pyramidal sp3 107° NH3

6 6 0 Octahedral Octahedral sp3d2 90° SF6

Effect of lone pair on bond angle

• BF3 (trigonal planar, 120°)

Into the plane

Out of the plane

Hence, instead of drawing methane as , it will be drawn as to show that it is in

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