Question

Which conformer of butane molecule has lowest energy?

• A. Ellipsed
• B. Skew
• C. Staggered
• D. Anti staggered

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Relative stability order of conformers of butane anti staggered $>$ Gauche $>$ Partial Eclipsed $>$ Fully Eclipsed

Stability $\propto \frac{1}{\text{ energy }}$

So Anti staggered has lowest energy