Beryllium chloride illustration

A few examples will illustrate how VSEPR is used to predict molecular geometry. Beryllium chloride, BeCl, has the Lewis structure... 

Apart from chlorine (without or with carbon), carbon tetrachloride, phosgene, hydrogen chloride, and sulfur dioxide-chlorine mixtures, some of the metal chlorides can also function as chlorinating agents. The chlorinating action of metal chlorides is dramatically illustrated by the behavior of the silica lining in reactors used for the chlorination of titanium dioxide and beryllium dioxide. 

Considering the representative elements first, we find that the maximum number of valence electrons for elements in the second period according to Fig. 1 is eight. Beryllium and boron chlorides have already been discussed sufficiently to illustrate compounds in which the maximum of eight is not reached. The properties of boron trichloride as a strong acid make it apparent that the one empty orbital of the boron atom can still be filled by two paired electrons from an atom in a basic molecule. The remaining four active elements in the second period require no further discussion, since for them the rule of two becomes equivalent to the rule of eight. 

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