Unusually Strong Dependence of Conformation on Solvent

Relative partition coefficients between aqueous methanol and pentane of the two stereoisomers of a series of 4-tert-butylcyclohexylamines were measured by NMR. The cis isomer shows a larger partition coefficient, with a ΔΔG°org → aq up to 1.4 kcal/mol. A thermodynamic cycle relates these values to a solvent dependence of the A value for conformational equilibrium of an amino substituent. The variation with stereoisomer is attributed to a greater hydrophilicity of a cyclohexylamine with an equatorial amino group, or equivalently to a greater steric bulk of an amino group whose lone pair is hydrogen bonded to water. The strong dependence on solvent inferred for A NMe 2 was confirmed by direct measurement of conformer populations at low temperature.