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Valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory (/ ˈ v ɛ s p ər, v ə ˈ s ɛ p ər / VESP-ər, [1]: 410 və-SEP-ər [2]) is a model used in chemistry to predict the geometry of individual molecules from the number of electron pairs surrounding their central atoms. [3]
In a tetrahedral molecular geometry, a central atom is located at the center with four substituents that are located at the corners of a tetrahedron.The bond angles are arccos(− 1 / 3 ) = 109.4712206...° ≈ 109.5° when all four substituents are the same, as in methane (CH 4) [1] [2] as well as its heavier analogues.
This shape is found when there are four bonds all on one central atom, with no extra unshared electron pairs. In accordance with the VSEPR (valence-shell electron pair repulsion theory), the bond angles between the electron bonds are arccos(− 1 / 3 ) = 109.47°. For example, methane (CH 4) is a tetrahedral molecule.
The nitrogen in ammonia has 5 valence electrons and bonds with three hydrogen atoms to complete the octet.This would result in the geometry of a regular tetrahedron with each bond angle equal to arccos(− 1 / 3 ) ≈ 109.5°.
In the laboratory, methyl formate can be produced by the condensation reaction of methanol and formic acid, as follows: . HCOOH + CH 3 OH → HCOOCH 3 + H 2 O. Industrial methyl formate, however, is usually produced by the combination of methanol and carbon monoxide (carbonylation) in the presence of a strong base, such as sodium methoxide: [4]
This geometry is almost always consistent with VSEPR theory, which usually explains non-collinearity of atoms with a presence of lone pairs. There are several variants of bending, where the most common is AX 2 E 2 where two covalent bonds and two lone pairs of the central atom (A) form a complete 8-electron shell.
Hybridisation helps to explain molecule shape, since the angles between bonds are approximately equal to the angles between hybrid orbitals. This is in contrast to valence shell electron-pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory, which can be used to predict molecular geometry based on empirical rules rather than on valence-bond or orbital theories. [11]
The molecular geometry of the methyl radical is trigonal planar (bond angles are 120°), although the energy cost of distortion to a pyramidal geometry is small. All other electron-neutral, non-conjugated alkyl radicals are pyramidalized to some extent, though with very small inversion barriers.