VSEPR

Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR)

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See display options below for lone pairs and multiple bonds.
For deeper exploration p and d pi-bonding orbitals can be shown.

SN*	Lone pairs	Molecular Geometry	Example	Bond angle
2	0	Linear	HCN	180°
	0	Linear	BrCN	180°
	0	Linear	CO₂	180°
	0	Linear	HCCH	180°
	0	Linear	BeH₂	180°
	0	Linear	CH₃NCO	180°
	0	Linear resonance	CH₃NCS	180°
	0	Linear	N₃^–	180°
	0	Linear resonance	NNO	180°
	0	Linear resonance	SCN^–	180°
	0	Linear	(CN)₂	180°
	1	Linear	N₂
	1	Linear	CO
	1	Linear	OH^–
	1	Linear	CN^–
3	0	Trigonal planar resonance	CO₃^-2	120°
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	NO₃^–	120°
	0	Trigonal planar	BH₃	120°
	0	Trigonal planar	H₂CO	116 HCH 122 HCO
	0	Trigonal planar	H₂CO₃	109 OCO 126 OC=O
	0	Trigonal planar	COCl₂	112 ClCCl 124 ClCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance^‡	CO(NH₂)₂	113 NCN 124 NCO
	0	Trigonal planar	CCl₂CCl₂	116 ClCCl 122 ClCC
	0	Trigonal planar	CH₂CH₂	117 HCH 121 HCC
	0	Trigonal planar	CH₂CHCl	123°
	0	Trigonal planar	CH₂CHCH₃	124°
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	CH₂CHOH	127°
	0	Trigonal planar^‡ resonance	CH₂CHNH₂	125°
	0	Trigonal planar	CH₃COOH	127 OCO 111 CCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	CH₃COO^–	126 OCO 116 CCO
	0	Trigonal planar	C₆H₆	120°
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	N₂O₄	134 ONO 121 NNO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	SO₃	120°
	1	Angular or bent resonance	SO₂	120°
	1	Angular or bent resonance	O₃	117°
	1	Angular or bent resonance	NO₂^–	115°
	1	Angular or bent	ClNO	113°
	1	Angular or bent	CH₂NCH₃	117°
	1	Angular or bent	CH₃NCO	114°
	1	Angular or bent resonance	CH₃NCS	147°
	2	Linear	O₂
4	0	Tetrahedral	CH₄	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	SiCl₄	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	NH₄⁺	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	BF₄^–	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	BH₄^–	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	B(OH)₄^–	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	As(C₆H₅)₄⁺	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	CH₃CH₃	108 HCH 111 HCC
	0	Tetrahedral	CH₃NH₂	108 HCH 110 HCN
	0	Tetrahedral	CH₃OH	109 HCH 110 HCO
	0	Tetrahedral	CH₂Cl₂	108 HCCl 112 ClCCl
	0	Tetrahedral	BH₃NH₃	114 HBH 105 HBN
	0	Tetrahedral	BH₃NH₃	108 HNH 111 HNB
	0	Tetrahedral	POCl₃	104 ClPCl 119 ClPO
	0	Tetrahedral	NSF₃	94 FSF 123 FSN
	0	Tetrahedral	SO₂Cl₂	111 ClSCl 120 OSO
	0	Tetrahedral	PO₄^-3	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	SO₄^-2	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	ClO₄^–	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	XeO₄	109.5°
	1	Trigonal pyramid	NH₃	108°
	1	Trigonal pyramid	PCl₃	100°
	1	Trigonal pyramid	CH₃NH₂	106 HNH 111 HNC
	1	Trigonal pyramid	NH₂OH	107 HNH 103 HNO
	1	Trigonal pyramid	NH₂NH₂	107 HNH 109 HNN
	1	Trigonal pyramid	SO₃^-2	106°
	1	Trigonal pyramid	SOCl₂	96 ClSCl 106 ClSO
	1	Trigonal pyramid	XeO₃	108°
	1	Trigonal pyramid	HIO₃	98 O-I=O 101 O=I=O
	2	Angular or bent	H₂O	104.5°
	2	Angular or bent	OF₂	103°
	2	Angular or bent	H₂S	92°
	2	Angular or bent	HOCl	103°
	2	Angular or bent	CH₃OH	109°
	2	Angular or bent	NH₂OH	103°
	2	Angular or bent	PO₃OPO₃	131°
	3	Linear	HCl
	3	Linear	Cl₂
5	0	Trigonal bipyramid	PCl₅	120, 180
	0	Trigonal bipyramid	AsF₅	120, 180
	0	Trigonal bipyramid	SOF₄	98° FSO 124° FSO
	1	Seesaw	SF₄	102, 173
	1	Seesaw	XeO₂F₂	106 OXeO 175 FXeF
	1	Seesaw	IO₂F₂^–	102 OIO 179 FIF
	2	T shaped	BrF₃	86, 172°
	2	T shaped	XeF₃⁺	89, 162°
	2	T shaped	XeOF₂	92, 174°
	3	Linear	I₃^–	180°
	3	Linear	XeF₂	180°
6	0	Octahedral	SF₆	90, 180°
	0	Octahedral	PF₆^–	90, 180°
	0	Octahedral	XeO₆^-4	90, 180°
	0	Octahedral	IO(OH)₅	90, 180°
	1	Square pyramid	BrF₅	85, 170°
	1	Square pyramid	XeOF₄	92, 176°
	1	Square pyramid	XeF₅⁺	80, 160°
	2	Square planar	XeF₄	90, 180°
	2	Square planar	ICl₄^–	90, 180°
7	0	Pentagonal bipyramid	IF₇	72, 90°
	1	Pentagonal pyramid	IOF₅^-2	72, 92°
	2	Pentagonal planar	XeF₅^–	72°
If A is the central atom, and X is all attached atoms, and E is lone electron pairs, then AX_mE_n predicts the molecular shape by minimizing XE repulsion and the steric number (SN) equals m+n*. ^‡Observed

Display options
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Element Labels: S M L XL XXL Off
Multiple bonds Lone Pairs pπ dπ π bonds have opposite
phase on either side of
the bond axis
Spin
Perspective Antialias (slower)

Molecules mostly modified from PubChem. Bond angles mostly from NIST.
This page created by George Lisensky, Beloit College.
Last modified March 14, 2026.

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