difference between molecular orbital theory and vsepr theory
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Valence Bond (VB) theory takes as its main actors the individual atoms and their own atomic orbitals. To study bonding, it tries to look at the overlap of the atomic orbitals. As you can imagine, because the basic building block of VB are independent atoms, it is best for describing molecules that are near dissociation or when atoms are barely close enough to associate, and the picture of electrons being localized around their respective atoms is a good approximation.
Molecular Orbital (MO) theory looks at the molecule as a whole unit, and treats the electrons as delocalized and shared amongst all the atoms. The orbitals that MO tries to draw can cover the entire molecule, and hence MO tends to give a better picture of fully-bonded molecules and molecular features like resonance (where electrons are shared across multiple nuclei instead of localized like in VB theory).
Molecular Orbital (MO) theory looks at the molecule as a whole unit, and treats the electrons as delocalized and shared amongst all the atoms. The orbitals that MO tries to draw can cover the entire molecule, and hence MO tends to give a better picture of fully-bonded molecules and molecular features like resonance (where electrons are shared across multiple nuclei instead of localized like in VB theory).
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