Conformation

From Proteopedia

Conformation describes the shapes a molecule has at a given time due to free rotation around single bonds. Depending on the interactions of the atoms in different conformations of a molecule, some conformations will be common (lower energy) and some will be rare (higher energy). Different conformations will have different sets of torsion angles, which quantitatively describe the rotation around a bond.

Example: Pentane

See also

Tutorial:Ramachandran principle and phi psi angles