Butane Newman projection

FIGURE 3 6 The gauche and anti conformations of butane shown as ball and spoke mod els left) and as Newman projections right) The gauche conformation is less stable than the anti because of the van der Waals strain between the methyl groups... 

We can view this reaction as the replacement of one or the other of the two methylene protons at C 2 of butane These protons are prochiral atoms and as the red and blue protons m the Newman projection indicate occupy mirror image environments... 

Higher alkanes having unbranched carbon chains are, like butane, most stable in theh all-anti conformations. The energy difference between gauche and anti conformations is similar- to that of butane, and appreciable quantities of the gauche conformation are present in liquid alkanes at 25°C. In depicting the conformations of higher alkanes it is often more helpful to look at them from the side rather than end-on as in a Newman projection. Viewed from this perspective, the most stable conformations of pentane and hexane... 

Increased substitution around a bond leads to increased strain. Take the four substituted butanes listed below, for example. For each compound, sight along the C2-C3 bond and draw Newman projections of the most stable and least stable conformations. Use the data in Table 3.5 to assign strain energy values to each conformation. Which of the eight conformations is most strained Which is least strained ... 

Gauche conformation (Section 3.7) The conformation of butane in which the two methyl groups lie 60° apart as viewed in a Newman projection. This conformation has 3.8 kj/mol steric strain. 

We have seen that Newman projections are a powerfnl way to show the different conformations of a molecule. We mentioned earlier that there are staggered conformations and eclipsed conformations. In fact, there are three staggered and three eclipsed conformations. Let s draw all three staggered conformations of butane. The best way to do this is to keep the back carbon atom motionless (so the fan in the back is not spinning), and let s slowly turn the groups in the front (only the front fan is spinning) ... 

The many different conformers resulting from rotation around the carbon-carbon bonds in simple molecules like ethane and w-butane may be shown by Newman projections (Figure 2.7). The most stable is the anti or trans projection where the steric hindrance is minimized. There are a number of eclipsed and gauche arrangements of which only one of... 

FIGURE 2.7 (a) potential energy profile illustrating the potential energy changes associated with rotation around a C-C bond of ethane (b) Newman projections of designated conformers of n-butane. 

Other common methods for representing the three-dimensional structures of molecules include Newman projections for showing conformational relationships and sawhorse figures. Newman projections look down a carbon-carbon bond so that the front carbon, designated by a circle, obscures the carbon directly behind it. Valences (bonds) to the front carbon extend to the center of the circle, while bonds to the rear carbon stop at the circle. Sawhorse projections have the carbon-carbon bond at oblique angles, which attempts to represent a perspective drawing of the molecule. Thus for 2-chloro butane, if one chooses to examine the 2,3 bond, then the sawhorse and Newman projections would be... 

Draw, using dash-wedge, sawhorse, or Newman projection formulas, the important conformations of ethane, propane, butane, and various halogenated derivatives of these alkanes. 

Newman projections, looking along the central C2—C3 bond, for four conformations of butane. Construct butane with your molecular models, and sight down the C2—C3 bond. Notice that we have defined the dihedral angle d as the angle between the two end methyl groups. 

S The t ylate of t2R 3 >3 p]venyU2-butantreatment with sodium ethoxide to yield t.Z>>2 ptienyU2 bateDe. Explain, uaring Newman projections. 

The boat conformation of cyclohexane (18) can be constructed from a molecular model of the chair form by holding the right-hand three carbons C(2), C(3) and C(4) of 15, clamped from the top with the hand and moving the left-hand three carbons upward. A Newman projection of the boat form looking along the C(l)-C(2) bond, and shown in 19, is reminiscent of the highest energy cis conformation of butane. 

It is well known that butane has two favoured conformations represented as 2.14 (anti) and 2.15 (gauche) according to a Newman projection perpendicular to the C-2-C-3 bond. 

Lets look at a Newman projection of butane as it rotates counterclockwise around its axes. 

Figure 2.4 Newman projections of the eclipsed and staggered conformations of a n-butane molecule.

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