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^– ^azide	180°
	0	Linear resonance	NNO ^{nitrous oxide}	180°
	0	Linear resonance	SCN^– ^thiocyanate	180°
	0	Linear	(CN)₂ ^cyanogen	180°
	1	Linear	N₂
	1	Linear	CO
	1	Linear	CN^– ^cyanide
3	0	Trigonal planar resonance	CO₃^-2 ^carbonate	120°
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	NO₃^– ^nitrate	120°
	0	Trigonal planar	BH₃	120°
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	BF₃	120°
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	BO₃^-3 ^borate	120°
	0	Trigonal planar	H₃BO₃ ^{boric acid}	120°
	0	Trigonal planar	H₂CO ^formaldehyde	116 HCH 122 HCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	H₂CO₃ ^{carbonic acid}	109 OCO 126 OC=O
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	HNO₃ ^{nitric acid}	114 HONO 130 ONO
	0	Trigonal planar	COCl₂	112 ClCCl 124 ClCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	CO(NH₂)₂ ^urea	113 NCN 124 NCO
	0	Trigonal planar	CCl₂CCl₂	116 ClCCl 122 ClCC
	0	Trigonal planar	CH₂CH₂	117 HCH 121 HCC
	0	Trigonal planar	CH₂CHCl	113 HCCl 123 CCCl
	0	Trigonal planar	CH₂CHCH₃	125 CCC
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	CH₂CHOH	126 CCO
	0	Trigonal planar^† resonance	CH₂CHNH₂	125 CCN
	0	Trigonal planar	CH₃CHO	124 CCO 117 CCH
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	CH₃COOH ^{acetic acid}	127 OCO 111 CCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	CH₃COO^– ^acetate	126 OCO 116 CCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance^†	NH₂COOH ^{carbamic acid}	123 OCO 126 NCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance^†	NH₂COO^– ^carbamate	128 OCO 116 NCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance^†	NH₂CHO ^formamide	113 HCN 125 NCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance^†	(CH₃)₂NCHO	117 HCN 124 NCO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	C₆H₆	120°
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	N₂O₄	134 ONO 121 NNO
	0	Trigonal planar resonance	SO₃	120°
	½	Angular or bent resonance	NO₂	134°
	1	Angular or bent resonance	SO₂	119°
	1	Angular or bent resonance	O₃	117°
	1	Angular or bent resonance	NO₂^– ^nitrite	115°
	1	Angular or bent	NOCl	113°
	1	Angular or bent	NOF	110°
	1	Angular or bent	CH₂NCH₃	117°
	1	Angular or bent	CH₃NCO	114°
	1	Angular or bent resonance	CH₃NCS	147°
	1	Angular or bent resonance^†	H₂NNO ^nitrosamine	117 HNN 114 NNO
	1	Angular or bent resonance^†	(CH₃)₂NNO	114°
	1½	Linear smaller formal charges	NO ^{nitric oxide}
	2	Linear	O₂
4	0	Tetrahedral	CH₄	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	SiCl₄	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	NH₄⁺	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	BH₄^–	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral	BF₄^–	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	CH₃Br	108 HCBr 111 HCH
	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^‡	B₂H₆	98 HBH 123 HBH
	0	Tetrahedral^‡	Al₂(CH₃)₆	78 AlCAl 126 AlCAl
	0	Tetrahedral smaller formal charges	POCl₃	104 ClPCl 119 ClPO
	0	Tetrahedral smaller formal charges	PO₄^-3 ^phosphate	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral smaller formal charges	NSF₃	94 FSF 123 FSN
	0	Tetrahedral smaller formal charges	SO₂Cl₂	111 ClSCl 120 OSO
	0	Tetrahedral smaller formal charges	SO₄^-2 ^sulfate	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral smaller formal charges	H₂SO₄ ^{sulfuric acid}	101 HOSOH 123 OSO
	0	Tetrahedral smaller formal charges	ClO₄^– ^perchlorate	109.5°
	0	Tetrahedral smaller formal charges	XeO₄	109.5°
	1	Trigonal pyramid	NH₃	108°
	1	Trigonal pyramid	PCl₃	100°
	1	Trigonal pyramid	CH₃NH₂	106 HNH 111 HNC
	1	Trigonal pyramid	(CH₃)₂NH	109 HNC 111 CNC
	1	Trigonal pyramid	(CH₃)₃N	108°
	1	Trigonal pyramid	NH₂OH	107 HNH 103 HNO
	1	Trigonal pyramid	NH₂NH₂	107 HNH 109 HNN
	1	Trigonal pyramid	P₄	60°
	1	Trigonal pyramid smaller formal charges	ClO₃^– ^chlorate	107°
	1	Trigonal pyramid smaller formal charges	SO₃^-2 ^sulfite	106°
	1	Trigonal pyramid smaller formal charges	SOCl₂	96 ClSCl 106 ClSO
	1	Trigonal pyramid smaller formal charges	XeO₃	108°
	1	Trigonal pyramid smaller formal charges	HIO₃ ^{iodic acid}	98 O-I=O 101 O=I=O
	1½	Angular or bent smaller formal charges	ClO₂	118°
	2	Angular or bent smaller formal charges	ClO₂^– ^chlorite	108°
	2	Angular or bent	H₂O	104.5°
	2	Angular or bent	OF₂	103°
	2	Angular or bent	H₂S	92°
	2	Angular or bent	S₈	108°
	2	Angular or bent	HOCl ^hypochlorous	103°
	2	Angular or bent	CH₃OH	109°
	2	Angular or bent	CH₃OCH₃	112°
	2	Angular or bent	NH₂OH	103°
	2	Angular or bent smaller formal charges	PO₃OPO₃ ^{pyrophosphate}	131°
	3	Linear	HCl
	3	Linear	Cl₂
	3	Linear	ClO^– ^hypochlorite
	3	Linear	OH^– ^hydroxide
5	0	Trigonal bipyramid	PCl₅	120, 180
	0	Trigonal bipyramid	AsF₅	120, 180
	0	Trigonal bipyramid smaller formal charges	SOF₄	98° FSO 124° FSO
	1	Seesaw	SF₄	102, 173
	1	Seesaw smaller formal charges	XeO₂F₂	106 OXeO 175 FXeF
	1	Seesaw smaller formal charges	IO₂F₂^–	102 OIO 179 FIF
	2	T shaped	BrF₃	86, 172°
	2	T shaped	XeF₃⁺	89, 162°
	2	T shaped smaller formal charges	XeOF₂	92, 174°
	3	Linear	I₃^–	180°
	3	Linear	XeF₂	180°
6	0	Octahedral	SF₆	90, 180°
	0	Octahedral	PF₆^–	90, 180°
	0	Octahedral smaller formal charges	XeO₆^-4	90, 180°
	0	Octahedral smaller formal charges	IO(OH)₅	90, 180°
	1	Square pyramid	BrF₅	85, 170°
	1	Square pyramid smaller formal charges	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 smaller formal charges	IOF₅^-2	72, 92°
	2	Pentagonal planar	XeF₅^–	72°
8	1	Square antiprism	XeF₈^-2	73°

*If A is the central atom, and X is all its attached atoms, and E is its lone electron pairs, then AX_mE_n predicts the molecular shape by minimizing XE repulsion and the steric number (SN) equals m+n.
^†Observed geometry, often planar NR₃ due to π contribution.
^‡Three atomic orbitals form three molecular orbitals (bonding, non-bonding, and antibonding) with two electrons in the bonding orbital.
Resonance shows another resonance contribution. If a lone pair is in a p orbital, then lone pair and p orbital display in same location.
Smaller formal charges moves a lone pair to be a double bond.
Protonated -ate ions become -ic acids; -ite ions become -ous acids.

Display options
Spacefill Ball&Stick Ball Stick Lines Off
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:

sp, sp², sp³, ...
Spin
Perspective Antialias (slower)

Molecules mostly modified from PubChem.
This page created by George Lisensky, Beloit College.
Last modified April 4, 2026.

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