[cabaal]

Is there a quick trick for finding out if two chair conformations of cyclohexane are enantiomers or diastereomers? Building the models out doesn't really work because my model set is too rigid to do a chair flip and I cannot see the structure in my head.

[MissPhosgene]

Try writing the ring-flips on paper as flat structures with bold and dashed lines as bonds between carbon atoms.

[cabaal]

Try writing the ring-flips on paper as flat structures with bold and dashed lines as bonds between carbon atoms.

It's definitely much, much easier that way. Thank you.

[MissPhosgene]

Glad it helped.

[movies]

The other trick is to just rotate each substituent one position around the ring.

[svalbard]

I usually just find how many steriocenters there are, then calculate the number of isomers i.e. 2^n
Then draw them as a "flat" ring with cis/trans.

for me it's easier to see it as cis/trans on the ring when determining enantomeric isomers.