Charles Collingwood explains the Lewis structure and VSEPR-derived geometry of xenon difluoride (XeF2). He states xenon has 8 valence electrons; bonding to two fluorines uses two electrons leaving six as three lone pairs. With five regions of electron density the electronic arrangement is trigonal bipyramidal; placing the three lone pairs equatorially minimizes repulsion, leaving the two fluorine atoms axial and producing a linear molecular shape with an F–Xe–F bond angle of 180°.
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The Lewis structure of Xenon Difluoride XEF2 Xenon is a noble gas. It's got 8 electrons in its outer shell. Fluorine is in group 7. It must share a pair of electrons to bond. So if we put two fluorines with shared pairs of electrons around the xenon, this means that xenon has used up two of its eight electrons. It has six electrons remaining. These six electrons will be in the form of three lone pairs. The next question is how does the structure arrange itself? Well, we have five regions of electron density around the xenon. And this means that the electronic arrangement around the xenon will be a. We call it up. Five charge centers will be a trigonal bipyramidal shape. So xenon difluoride, the electronic arrangement will be trigonal bipyramidal. However, this still requires us to find where the actual fluorines are going to go. Well, the rules for the valence shell electron repulsion theory tell us that the lone pairs will go as far apart as possible from one another. Well, there are two possibilities. If we call up another lone pair here, we could put a lone pairs in the axial positions. Now if these were in the axial positions, these would be only 90 degrees from at least one of the lone pair. And that's a very small angle. However, if we put all three lone pairs in the equatorial positions, then what we get is we get each of the lone pairs is going to be at 120 degrees to the other lone pairs. And this reduces the or minimizes the repulsions. So our xenon difluoride will have the two fluorine atoms above and below the Thor 3 lone pair centers. Xenon difluoro then is linear. The bond angle FXEF is 180 degrees.
