- Sawhorse projections represent the 3D structure of a molecule by looking at the molecule at a 45° angle.
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.
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