The influence of bidentate ligands on the stereochemistry of eight-coordinate compounds is examined by calculation of the ligand-ligand repulsion energies. The potential energy surfaces are critically dependent upon the "bite" of the bidentate ligand, which is defined as the distance between the two donor atoms of the same bidentate divided by the metal atomdonor atom distance. For ligands having small bites, and for complexes of stoichiometries M(monodentate)4 (bidentate)2 or M(bidentate)4, the single minimum which is observed in each case corresponds to the dodecahedron of Du symmetry, which is also that experimentally observed for such molecules. The calculations for M (bidentate)4 also predict a significant distortion of this Du dodecahedron due to the creation of a dihedral angle between the two bidentates of the same trapezoid, and this is also in agreement with experiment. As the bite of the bidentate ligand is steadily increased, it is predicted that there is a continuous change from this polyhedron approximating to the Du dodecahedron to that approximating to the D% square antiprism. When the bite of the bidentate ligand becomes similar to the distance between donor atoms observed for complexes containing only monodentate ligands, three stereochemistries appear equally probable, namely, the D2 square antiprism, the Zh square antiprism, and the Z>2 dodecahedron. Within each stereochemistry, the detailed geometry experimentally observed agrees very well with that predicted (to within about 2°).