Most stable chair.

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promolion

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Topscore said that equatorial position is most stable. The problem has 2 methyl adjacent to each other in equatorial position. Shouldn't it be repulsive? If it is bulky, it would be axial right? It is like prob 95 on test 1.
 
Topscore said that equatorial position is most stable. The problem has 2 methyl adjacent to each other in equatorial position. Shouldn't it be repulsive? If it is bulky, it would be axial right? It is like prob 95 on test 1.
Bulky groups ALWAYS lead to a more stable conformation, when they're located in the Equatorial position. The reason why the structure will be unstable if they're located in the axial position is that the steric hindrance between these bulky groups and other axial groups will be maximized under such circumstances. Even adjacent bulky groups will result in a more stable conformation as long as they're located in the equatorial position, because when you look at a 3D model of cyclohexane, there isn't much steric hindrance between equatorial groups, even if they're somwhat bulky! You can kinda see this in the following figure:
Cyclohexane-chair-3D-sticks.png
 
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