

The classic example of the Lewis structure breaking down is the dioxygen molecule, which is often written with a double bond as a Lewis structure but experimental evidence indicates that there are two unpaired electrons involved in bonding. If a Lewis structure shows an "expanded" octet (or for transition metal complexes), you are better off looking at a molecular orbital diagrams to determine what the bond order is and whether the bond in question is sigma or pi (whether there is a node along the bond axis). This assumes that the Lewis structure is a good representation of the molecule.

Also, the predicted angles mostly will be approximations (except in the case of high symmetry, e.g. The predictions work pretty well for some compounds made of H, C, N, O atoms, less so for third row main group elements, and they mostly break down for transition metals. You would measure or deduce the bond lengths and angles with an appropriate experiment, and see whether your data fits your prediction. How do I know what's wrong with VSEPR theory a priori? For example, in an exam I am asked to determine this structure, how to do it so that it is always the right one. So a triple bond in the Lewis structure is one sigma and two pi bonds in the valence bond formalism. The Lewis structures are a way to illustrate the valence bond description as far as possible. There is an analogous nonplanar bridged conformation of C2H2 which was found to lie 72.1.

This is where I don't know how to see if the link is σ- or π-type. In this case, there are two central atoms: $\ce$, which is expected to be linear.įor a complete study, I applied the valence bond model based on the hybridization of the atomic orbitals. To predict molecular geometry I used the VSEPR model, which is based on the number of electron pairs in the central atom to determine molecular geometry. For this I performed the following procedure.įirst, I drew the correct Lewis structure which is a graphical representation that shows the pairs of electrons linking the atoms of a molecule and the pairs of solitary electrons which may exist. I need to determine the molecular geometry of acetylene.
