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Higher Alkanes
The same basic ideas of conformational analysis developed previously for simple alkanes also apply, but some new situations are encountered.
The animation below shows how the
potential energy of the butane molecule
varies for a full rotation about the central C-C bond.
Use the controls to show the energies of the important conformations.
Question
Hydrocarbons are often drawn as simple "zig-zag" structures an example
of which is given below.
What type of
conformation does this
represent
?
© Dr. Ian Hunt, Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary |