Calculating the Probability of Constitutional Isomers of Pentane

by Mary-Margaret Dare

Submitted : Spring 2021

Depending on the reagent, and orientation of collisions within a chemical reaction, organic molecules can be present as different constitutional isomers of the same molecule. We can analyze the likelihood of getting a mixture of pentane with certain conformers. Based on this, we found that there are 16 potential conformers, but 13 are identical structures, meaning only three are distinct from each other. Using the product rule, we then demonstrated how to go about calculating the probability of specific conformers, including specific identical structures, being present in a mixture, and then we demonstrated that process strictly with the three different conformers.

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