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Newman Projection

Newman Projection is a way of representing the spatial relationship of groups attached to two adjacent carbon atoms in a molecule. The angle at which the observer makes this observation occurs when they try to visualize the molecule head-on along the bond axis joining the two atoms, such that one carbon atom is seen as a front and the other as a rear.

The front-facing carbon and its substituents are drawn as a Y, where the carbon atom is the merging center or the dot on the Y. The back carbon is represented as a circle with substituents projected from it. All the substituents at the front and back carbons are separated by 120 °. 
 

 

 

However, the Newman Projections heavily rely on the dihedral angle, the angle separating the bonds on the front from those behind, to determine whether they shadow each other or not. 

Bonds that eclipse are considered to have higher energy interactions than when the bonds are halfway spaced or staggered, allowing the least undesired interactions. Such staggered conformations are considered stable.

Conformations in organic chemistry of open and closed-chain carbon compounds are commonly represented using Newman Projections. Such conformations are drawn to study the stable form in which a molecule can exist, naturally or after chemical reactions.
 

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