VSEPR & Valence Bond Theory Examples

TYPE	Arrangement of Electron Pairs	Angle(s)	Molecular Structure	Hybrid Orbital	Example	File
AX₂	linear	180	linear	sp	BeF₂	bef2.pcm
AX₃	trigonal planar	120	trigonal planar	sp²	BF₃	bf3.pcm
AX₂E	trigonal planar	120	bent	sp²	SO₂	so2.pcm
AX₄	tetrahedral	109.5	tetrahedral	sp³	CH₄	ch4.pcm
AX₃E	tetrahedral	109.5	tripodal	sp³	NH³	nh3.pcm
AX₂E₂	tetrahedral	109.5	bent	sp³	H₂O	h2o.pcm
AX₅	trigonal bipyramidal	90 , 120	trig. bipyramidal	sp³d	PF₅	pf5.pcm
AX₄E	trigonal bipyramidal	90 , 120	wedge, seesaw	sp³d	SF₄	sf4.pcm
AX₃E₂	trigonal bipyramidal	90 , 120	T-shaped	sp³d	ICl₃	icl3.pcm
AX₂E₃	trigonal bipyramidal	90 , 120	linear	sp³d	I₃^-	i3minus.pcm
AX₆	octahedral	90	octahedral	sp³d²	CrCl₆	crcl6.pcm
AX₅E	octahedral	90	sq. pyramidal	sp³d²	ICl₅	icl5.pcm
AX₄E₂	octahedral	90	sq. planar	sp³d²	XeF₄	-

There is no example on the computer for XeF₄. A compund with a similar square planar structure (but not exactly the same electronic arrangement) is PtCl₄. The file name for this structure is ptcl4.pcm. The program to use to view these files is PCModel, which will be installed on all the computers in the freshman chemistry labs. Once you have opened PCModel, click on "View", and choose "Control Panel". Drag the control panel to the right of the screen and off the viewing area. Open the file you want and then under "View" again and choose the structure type you would like to view. Most freshman students prefer the ball and stick type of models.