Pentane conformations

Figure 8 -Pentane conformations (a), trans, trans, (b), gauche", gauche, and (c), gauche, gauche. (From Ref. 51.)...

This is a 2,3-P-3,4-M gauche pentane conformation, which is equivalent to 1,3-diaxial substituents on a cyclohexane. Note that - because the carbonyl substituent is a rcrt-butyl - it cannot be avoided by rotation around the terf-butyl-carbonyl bond. For further elaboration of this effect, see Figure 5.5 and the accompanying discussion. For an explanation of the P,M terminology, see the glossary. Section 1.6. 

Figure 7.1. Postulated transition structures for the asymmetric reduction of unsaturated ketones by BINAL-H [12]. Structures (a) and (b) differ in the orientation of Rjat and Run, the saturated and unsaturated ketone ligands, respectively, (a) UI topicity P reagent attacking Re face of ketone, (b) Lk topicity P reagent attacking Si face of ketone, (c) Alternate chair that is destabilized by the gauche pentane conformation accented by the bold lines (c/. Figure 5.5). Transition structures containing this conformation were considered by Noyori to be unimportant [12].

Components of Steric Energy Calculated for Pentane Conformers... 

Higher alkanes having unbranched carbon chains are like butane most stable m then-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 pres ent m 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 m a Newman projec tion Viewed from this perspective the most stable conformations of pentane and hexane... 

FIGURE 3 9 Ball and spoke models of pentane and hexane in their all anti (zigzag) conformations... 

Solvent polarity is also important in directing the reaction bath and the composition and orientation of the products. For example, the polymerization of butadiene with lithium in tetrahydrofuran (a polar solvent) gives a high 1,2 addition polymer. Polymerization of either butadiene or isoprene using lithium compounds in nonpolar solvent such as n-pentane produces a high cis-1,4 addition product. However, a higher cis-l,4-poly-isoprene isomer was obtained than when butadiene was used. This occurs because butadiene exists mainly in a transoid conformation at room temperature (a higher cisoid conformation is anticipated for isoprene) ... 

The same principles just developed for butane apply to pentane, hexane, and all higher alkanes. The most favorable conformation for any alkane has the carbon-carbon bonds in staggered arrangements, with large substituents arranged anti to one another. A generalized alkane structure is shown in Figure 3.10. 

Draw the most stable conformation of pentane, usi ng wedges and dashes to represen t bonds coming out of the paper and going behind the paper, respectively. 

Fig. 2.34 The two conformations free of destabilizing syn-pentane interaction [215, 216] in 2,4-disubstituted y-amino acid derivatives with like and unlike configuration. According to the nomenclature proposed by Balaram...

Out of the two conformations of the like-y -am no acid backbone (Fig. 2.34) that do not suffer from syu-pentane interaction, conformation II is almost identical to that found into the 2.6-hehcal structure reported for y" -peptides. This suggest that avoidance of unfavorable sy -pentane interactions in y-amino acids substituted at both the 2 and 4 positions can be used as an additional element of de-... 

Optimal pre-organization of the y-peptide backbone towards the formation of open-chain turn-like motifs is promoted by unlike-y " -amino acid residues. This design principle can be rationalized by examination of the two conformers free of syn-pentane interaction (f and II", Fig. 2.34). Tetrapeptide 150 built from homo-chiral unlike-y -amino acid building blocks 128e has been shown by NMR experiments in pyridine to adopt a reverse turn-like structure stabilized by a 14-mem-bered H-bond pseudocycle [202] (Fig. 2.37 A). 

Figure 3.4. Pentane. The diagram shows the four minimum-energy conformations of pentane. The global minimum is on the far left. Reflection and rotation of some of these geometries worrld generate more structures, but nothing with a different energy. Pentane is a simple molecule. More complicated molecules have many more conformations. Bryostatin 2 and PM-toxin A have so many mirrimtrm-energy conformations that to list them all would be a major undertaking and would require a large library to store the result.

Fig. 7.5 Illustration of how dispersion forces affect gauche (G) conformations. Compared to structures with gauche forms devoid of dispersion forces (i.e., HF-optimized), structures with gauche forms subject to dispersion forces (MP2 optimized) contract in such a way that the 1. ..5 nonbonded interactions in an attractive part of the van der Waals potential are shortened. Thus, in GG-pentane (shown above), MP2-optimized torsional angles are contracted by several degrees compared to the HF-optimized geometry, causing a reduction in the 1...5 nonbonded distances by several tenths of an A. For additional details and the numerical values see R. F. Frey, M. Cao, S. Q. Newton, and L. Schafer, J. Mol. Struct. 285 (1993) 99.

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