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How does the bond angle in methanol compare with the bond angle in water?
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In the water molecule, the H–O–H bond angle is 104.5°. This angle is less than the ideal tetrahedral angle of 109.5° because the two lone pairs of electrons on the oxygen atom exert greater repulsive forces than the bonding pairs, effectively pushing the bonding pairs closer together.12
In methanol (CH₃OH), the oxygen atom is also bonded to two atoms—a hydrogen atom and a carbon atom—and possesses two lone pairs. Similar to water, the electron pairs around the oxygen atom in methanol adopt a roughly tetrahedral arrangement. Consequently, the C–O–H bond angle in methanol is also compressed from the ideal tetrahedral angle due to the repulsive influence of the lone pairs, resulting in an angle very close to that found in water.2