Which of the following statements concerning the conformers of butane is true?
A) Unlike ethane, all butane conformers are classified as eclipsed.
B) The lowest energy conformer of butane is the gauche conformer.
C) There is more torsional strain in the anti conformer than in the totally eclipsed conformer.
D) The eclipsed and totally eclipsed conformers have the same amount of nonbonded strain.
E) The gauche and anti conformers differ primarily in the amount of nonbonded strain present.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The gauche and anti conformers of butane differ mainly in the amount of nonbonded strain, with the gauche conformer having more nonbonded strain due to the closer proximity of the methyl groups compared to the anti conformer, which is the most stable due to minimized nonbonded strain.

Which of the Following Statements Concerning the Conformers of Butane