Discovery of internal rotation and conformers of 1,2-dichloroethane: the dawn of the concept of conformation

In 1932, Mizushima and Higasi reported the dependence of the dipole moments of 1,2-dichloroethane on both temperature and solvent in the Proceedings of the Imperial Academy, Japan. This report was followed by their first proposal of the existence of conformers that exchanged by internal rotation about a C-C single bond based on experimental data. Their monumental work marked the beginning of the essential concept of conformation in modern stereochemistry. Their proposal was later confirmed by the direct observation of the anti and gauche conformers of 1,2-dichloroethane by Raman spectroscopy, and further supported by other experimental and theoretical methods. The relative stabilities of the anti and gauche conformers of 1,2-dichloroethane and other 1,2-disubstituted ethanes were discussed in terms of steric, electrostatic, and stereoelectronic effects based on analysis of calculated data. Those studies influenced the development of subsequent research in organic chemistry, such as the conformational analysis of cyclohexane derivatives and the isolation of chiral gauche conformers.