Conformation

Name:
Conformation
Detailed information:
(1) A shape or arrangement in three-dimensional space that an organic molecule can assume by rotating carbon atoms or their substituents around single covalent bonds. The conformation of a molecule is not fixed, though one or another shape may be more likely to occur. The number of conformational isomers is infinite. Conformational analysis involves the study of the preferred (or most likely) conformations of a molecule in the ground, transition, and excited states. Research on the conformations of cyclohexane and various sugars has contributed much to this aspect of stereochemistry.(2) An extended, zigzag arrangement of a polypeptide chain which can be parallel or antiparallel. One of the common secondary structure in proteins.