In organic chemistry, ring strain is the tendency of a cyclic molecule, such as cyclopropane, to destabilize when its atoms are in non-favorable high energy spatial orientations. Non-cyclic molecules do not exhibit ring strain because their terminal (end) atoms are not connected to force a particular type of spatial orientation.
Ring strain results from a combination of angle strain, conformational strain or Pitzer strain, and transannular strain or van der Waals strain.
Read more about Ring Strain: Examples, Organic Synthesis, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words ring and/or strain:
“Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong.
Hark! Now I hear them—ding-dong bell.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“You always strain tuh be de bell cow, never be de tail uh nothin’.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)