Conformational Analysis of 2-Methylhexane and 3-Methylhexane

Abstract

Infrared spectra were obtained for 2-methylhexane and 3-methylhexane, and were interpreted with the aid of normal coordinate calculations. It was shown that 2-methylhexane exists in three conformations. Evidence for the presence of three conformations of 3-methylhexane is presented, but a fourth conformer probably exists. Transferred force constant values resulted in an overall average difference between observed and calculated wavenumbers of 4.3 cm^?1, or 0.5%, for seven conformers of these two compounds.