The Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) model:

• is based on the number of regions of high electron density around a central atom.

• can be used to predict structures of molecules or ions that contain only non-metals by minimizing the electrostatic repulsion between the regions of high electron density.

• can also be used to predict structures of molecules or ions that contain multiple bonds or unpaired electrons.

• does fail in some cases.