The chair form of cyclohexane has protons in two distinct environments, axial and equatorial. When the proton NMR of cyclohexane is run on a 100-MHz instrument at 23°C, only one signal for the compound is observed. Explain this apparent contradiction.

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Sarrah Bishop · Accepted Answer

Final Answer : Axial and equatorial positions are being rapidly interchanged by chair-chair conformational interconversions. This rapid exchange results in an average signal for these two positions. At very low temperatures, two distinct signals are observed as the conformational interconversion process is slowed.

The chair form of cyclohexane has protons in two distinct environments, axial and equatorial. When the proton NMR of cyclohexane is run on a 100-MHz instrument at 23°C, only one signal for the compound is observed. Explain this apparent contradiction.

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