Van der Waals strain

In chemistry van der Waals strain is strain resulting from van der Waals repulsion when two substituents in a molecule approach each other with a distance less than the sum of their van der Waals radii. Van der Waals strain is also called van der Waals repulsion and related to steric hindrance.^[1] One of the most common forms of this strain is eclipsing hydrogen, in Alkanes.

References

1. ^ Organic chemistry 4th. Ed., Morrison and Boyd ISBN 0-205-05838-8