:Staggered conformation

{{Short description|Molecular form in which substituents on two adjacent atoms are furthest apart}}

{{For|the geometry of staggered rows|lattice (group)}}

Image:Staggered Conformation.svg ]]

Image:Eclipsed Conformation.svg ]]

In organic chemistry, a staggered conformation is a chemical conformation of an ethane-like moiety abcX–Ydef in which the substituents a, b, and c are at the maximum distance from d, e, and f; this requires the torsion angles to be 60°.{{cite book|author1-link=Ernest L. Eliel|first1=Ernest L. |last1=Eliel|first2=Samuel H.|last2=Wilen|title=Stereochemistry of Organic Compounds|publisher=Wiley|date=1994|page=1207|ISBN=978-0-471-01670-0}} It is the opposite of an eclipsed conformation, in which those substituents are as close to each other as possible.

Such a conformation exists in any open chain single chemical bond connecting two sp³-hybridised atoms, and is normally a conformational energy minimum. For some molecules such as those of n-butane, there can be special versions of staggered conformations called gauche and anti; see first Newman projection diagram in conformational isomerism.

Staggered/eclipsed configurations also distinguish different crystalline structures of e.g. cubic/hexagonal boron nitride, and diamond/lonsdaleite.