Conformational studies of butane-2,3-diol(CH3CH(OH)CH(OH)CH3) have shown the moststable confomration about the C2-C3 bond to be the gaucheconformations, which is 15.5 kJ/mol more stable than the anticonformation. Draw the Newman projection of all the conformers andexplain this curious result. Draw the graph of the relativetorsional energies for this molecule, and attribute each conformerto its corresponding energy.
I know that the gauche conformation is more stable than the anticonformation (typically this is the opposite) in butane-2,3-diolbecause moving the 2 OH groups closer together in the gaucheconformation permits the H of one to come close to the O of theother. Such intramolecular hydrogen bonding cannot take place inthe anti conformation, where the 2 OH groups are too far apart. Ialso pretty much have the Newman projections of all theconformations, but I am not sure how to graph the relativetorsional energies. I'm pretty sure that the gauche conformationson the graph should have lower energies than the anti conformationbecause the gauche conformations are more stable, but I'm not surehow to graph it. Could anyone help with this? It would also beuseful if someone could provide at least one of the Newmanprojections so I can check if mine are correct. Thanks!
Note that in the tags there should be a comma between "2" and"3"