Compensation effect in the thermodynamics of conformational equilibria

The solvent dependence of thermodynamic parameters of conformational equilibria in trans-1,2-dichlorocyclohexane and trans-1,2-bromochlorocyclohexane was investigated by infrared absorption spectra. The results obtained show the existence of a compensation effect in the thermodynamics of conformational equilibria: the enthalpy (ΔH₀) and entropy (ΔS₀) differences change in the same direction when going from one solvent to another. A semi-quantitative estimation of the effect is given on the basis of the equations of statistical thermodynamics. It is shown that the temperature dependence of the ΔS₀ value must be taken into account when determining the enthalpy difference of the conformers. This yields the equality of the true and observed ΔH₀ values.