Conformational Isomers

 INTRODUCTION:

We have already studied structural isomerism. Isomerism of another type is stereoisomerism. Here, the arrangement of the molecules are the ones that differ. There are two types of stereoisomerism: Conformational and Configurational. Here, in this post, we will talk about conformational isomerism.

CONFORMATIONAL ISOMERISM:

In this type of isomerism, a part of a molecule is rotated by a specific angle concerning a carbon-carbon sigma bond. Conformational isomerism isn't considered to be a form of isomerism. It is still, very useful when we learn about configuration isomerism. Let us see the conformational isomerism for open-chain molecules.

CONFORMATIONAL ISOMERISM FOR OPEN-CHAIN MOLECULES:

In this type of compound, Newman projections are very useful. Say we have ethane. They can be represented in the Newman projections as:

Eclipsed is when the hydrogens are as close as possible and staggered is when they are as far as possible. These are some of the conformational isomers of ethene. Alkanes have an infinite amount of conformers.

CONFORMERS OF CYCLOHEXANE:

There are four main conformers of hexane: chair, half-chair, boat, twist-boat. The conformation of cyclohexane is given by the diagram below:

The chair form is the most stable out of all of these.

These are the basics of conformational isomerism, and in the next post, we will be talking about configuration isomerism. Till then, bye!