In a sawhorse projection, a molecule is viewed from an angle, rather than side-on. For example, imagine looking at model 1 of ethane below at an angle so that the carbon atom highlighted in red is further from you, and the carbon atom in grey is closer to you. From this perspective, the molecule would look like model 2. To draw a sawhorse projection, we just need to replace the bonds in model 2 with straight lines.
Tutorial: Drawing sawhorse projections
Exercise: Draw the sawhorse projection for the butane conformer shown below.
Click on the tabs for hints.
Identify the atoms that are in the plane of the page.
Rotate the structure downwards by 45o, then towards you by 45o.
Draw the sawhorse structure.
