Difference Between Staggered and Eclipsed Conformation

These structures give the structure of a molecule when looked through the carbon backbone from front-back direction. The main difference between staggered conformation and eclipsed conformation is that staggered conformation has a lower potential energy whereas eclipsed conformation has the maximum potential energy.

1. What is staggered and eclipsed conformation?
2. Is staggered or eclipsed conformation more stable?
3. What is meant by staggered conformation?
4. What is the energy difference between the eclipsed conformations?
5. Is gauche staggered?
6. Why staggered form is more stable than eclipsed?
7. Which conformation is more stable and why?
8. Is staggered or eclipsed more energy?
9. Which conformation of ethane is more stable and why?
10. What does staggered mean?
11. Which are staggered forms of ethane?

What is staggered and eclipsed conformation?

In an eclipsed conformation the carbons are aligned so that the hydrogens are lined up with each other. This creates steric hindrance between them. In a staggered conformation the atoms are all equally spaced from each other. ... The eclipsed conformation of ethane is less stable than the staggered conformation.

Is staggered or eclipsed conformation more stable?

…with respect to the other—the eclipsed conformation is the least stable, and the staggered conformation is the most stable. The eclipsed conformation is said to suffer torsional strain because of repulsive forces between electron pairs in the C―H bonds of adjacent carbons.

What is meant by staggered conformation?

In organic chemistry, a staggered conformation is a chemical conformation of an ethane-like moiety abcX–Ydef in which the substituents a, b, and c are at the maximum distance from d, e, and f. This requires the torsion angles to be 60°.

What is the energy difference between the eclipsed conformations?

The energy of the eclipsed conformation is approximately 3 kcal/mol (12 kJ/mol) higher than that of the staggered conformation. Torsional strain (or eclipsing strain) is the name give to the energy difference caused by the increased electrostatic repulsion of eclipsing bonds.

Is gauche staggered?

In the most stable conformation, the two methyl groups lie as far apart from each other as possible with a dihedral angle of 180 degrees. This particular staggered conformation is called anti. The other staggered conformation has a Me-Me dihedral angle of 60 degrees and is called gauche.

Why staggered form is more stable than eclipsed?

1 Answer. A staggered conformer is more stable than an eclipsed conformer as the latter involves unfavourable energy interactions between atoms. ... In contrast stands the eclipsed conformation where the H atoms line up perfectly!

Which conformation is more stable and why?

The chair conformation is more stable because it does not have any steric hindrance or steric repulsion between the hydrogen bonds.

Is staggered or eclipsed more energy?

The energy of the eclipsed conformation is approximately 12 kJ/mol higher (less stable) than that of the staggered conformation.

Which conformation of ethane is more stable and why?

The staggered conformation of ethane is more stable than the eclipsed form by 12.1 kJ/mol, so that as one methyl group rotates 360º relative to the other, the compound passes through three stable staggered conformers via three unstable eclipsed forms.

What does staggered mean?

: to move or cause (someone) to move unsteadily from side to side. : to shock or surprise (someone) very much. : to arrange (things) in a series of different positions or times.

Which are staggered forms of ethane?

The lowest energy conformation of ethane, shown in the figure above, is called the 'staggered' conformation, in which all of the C-H bonds on the front carbon are positioned at dihedral angles of 60°relative to the C-H bonds on the back carbon.