Structural formulas show the manner in which the atoms of a molecule are bonded together (its constitution), but do not generally describe the three-dimensional shape of a molecule, unless special bon...Structural formulas show the manner in which the atoms of a molecule are bonded together (its constitution), but do not generally describe the three-dimensional shape of a molecule, unless special bonding notations (e.g. In the case of hexane, we have an unbranched chain of six carbons which is often written as a linear formula: CH 3 CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 CH 3 . We know this is not strictly true, since the carbon atoms all have a tetrahedral configuration.
