on its respective carbon. Maintaining said position with a larger size costs more energy from the molecule as a whole because of steric repulsion between the large groups' nonbonded electron pairs and the electrons of the smaller groups (ie. hydrogens). Such steric repulsions are absent for equatorial groups. The cyclohexane model thus assesses steric size of functional groups on the basis of gauche interactions. The gauche interaction will increase in energy as the size of the substituent involved increases. For example, a t-butyl substituent would sustain a higher energy gauche interaction as compared to a methyl group, and therefore, contribute more to the instability of the molecule as a whole. In comparison, a staggered conformation is thus preferred; the larger groups would maintain the equatorial position and lower the energy of the entire molecule. This preference for the equatorial position among “bulkier groups” lowers the energy barriers between different conformations of the ring. When the molecule is activated, there will be a loss in entropy due to the stability of the larger substituents. Therefore, the preference of the equatorial positions by large molecules (such as a methyl group) inhibits the reactivity of the molecule and thus makes the molecule more stable as a whole. Effects on conformational equilibrium Conformational equilibrium is the tendency to favor the conformation where cyclohexane is the most stable. This equilibrium depends on the interactions between the molecules in the compound and the solvent. Polarity and nonpolarity are the main factors in determining how well a solvent interacts with a compound. Cyclohexane is considered nonpolar, meaning that there is no electronegative difference between its bonds and its overall structure is symmetrical. Due to this, when cyclohexane is immersed in a polar solvent, it will have less solvent distribution, which signifies a poor interaction between the solvent and solute. This produces a limited catalytic effect. Moreover, when cyclohexane comes into contact with a nonpolar solvent, the solvent distribution is much greater, showing a strong interaction between the solvent and solute. This strong interaction yields a heighten catalytic effect. Heterocyclic analogs Heterocyclic analogs of cyclohexane are pervasive in sugars, piperidines, dioxanes, etc. They exist generally follow the trends seen for cyclohexane, i.e. the chair conformer being most stable. The axial–equatorial equilibria (A values) are however strongly affected by the replacement of a methylene by O or NH. Illustrative are the conformations of the glucosides. 1,2,4,5-Tetrathiane ((SCH2)3) lacks the