Newman Projection
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A Newman projection is a drawing that helps visualize the 3-dimensional structure of a molecule. This projection most commonly sights down a carbon-carbon bond, making it a very useful way to visualize the stereochemistry of alkanes. A Newman projection visualizes the conformation of a
chemical bond A chemical bond is the association of atoms or ions to form molecules, crystals, and other structures. The bond may result from the electrostatic force between oppositely charged ions as in ionic bonds or through the sharing of electrons a ...
from front to back, with the front atom represented by the intersection of three lines (a dot) and the back atom as a circle. The front atom is called ''proximal'', while the back atom is called ''distal''. This type of representation clearly illustrates the specific dihedral angle between the proximal and distal atoms. This projection is named after American chemist Melvin Spencer Newman, who introduced it in 1952 as a partial replacement for Fischer projections, which are unable to represent conformations and thus conformers properly.Newman, MS. ''Record. Chem. Progr. (Kresge-Hooker Sci. Lib.) 1952,'' 13'', 111'' This diagram style is an alternative to a sawhorse projection, which views a
carbon–carbon bond A carbon–carbon bond is a covalent bond between two carbon atoms. The most common form is the single bond: a bond composed of two electrons, one from each of the two atoms. The carbon–carbon single bond is a sigma bond and is formed between on ...
from an oblique angle, or a wedge-and-dash style, such as a Natta projection. These other styles can indicate the bonding and
stereochemistry Stereochemistry, a subdiscipline of chemistry, studies the spatial arrangement of atoms that form the structure of molecules and their manipulation. The study of stereochemistry focuses on the relationships between stereoisomers, which are defined ...
, but not as much conformational detail. A Newman projection can also be used to study
cyclic molecule A cyclic compound (or ring compound) is a term for a compound in the field of chemistry in which one or more series of atoms in the compound is connected to form a ring. Rings may vary in size from three to many atoms, and include examples where ...
s, such as the chair conformation of
cyclohexane Cyclohexane is a cycloalkane with the molecular formula . Cyclohexane is non-polar. Cyclohexane is a colourless, flammable liquid with a distinctive detergent-like odor, reminiscent of cleaning products (in which it is sometimes used). Cyclohexan ...
: Because of the free rotation around single bonds, there are various conformations for a single molecule. Up to six unique conformations may be drawn for any given chemical bond. Each conformation is drawn by rotation of either the proximal or distal atom 60 degrees. Of these six conformations, three will be in a staggered conformation, while the other three will be in an eclipsed conformation. These six conformations can be represented in a relative energy diagram. A staggered projection appears to have the surrounding species equidistant from each other. This kind of conformation tends to experience both anti and gauche interactions. Anti interactions refer to the molecules (usually of the same type) sitting exactly opposite of each other at 180° on the Newman projection. Gauche interactions refer to molecules (also usually of the same type) being 60° from each other on a Newman projection. Anti interactions experience less steric strain than gauche interactions, but both experience less steric strain than the eclipsed conformation. An eclipsed projection appears to have the surrounding species almost on top of each other. In reality, these species are in line with each other, but are drawn slightly staggered to help format the projection onto paper. These types of conformations are generally higher in energy due to increased bond strain. However, this strain can be somewhat lower if a hydrogen is eclipsed over a larger species, as opposed to two large species eclipsed over each other.


See also

* Haworth projection *
Fischer projection In chemistry, the Fischer projection, devised by Emil Fischer in 1891, is a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional organic molecule by projection. Fischer projections were originally proposed for the depiction of carbohydrates a ...
* Natta projection Stereochemistry


References

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