Molecular mechanics calculations in germacyclohexane and methyl-substituted germacyclohexanes reveals that (i) the ring is flattened around the germanium and that (ii) a methyl group on germanium has a slight preference for the axial conformation rather than the equatorial, which is in line with the results for the corresponding silacyclohexanes. The 13C and 73Ge chemical shifts of these germacyclohexanes are consistent with the calculations. Thus, both 13C and 73Ge data indicate that I -m e t h y l -Igermacyclohexane is a ca. 60: 40 mixture of axial and equatorial isomers. Attempts to observe directly the two conformers b y freezing the inversion on the n.m.r. time scale failed because of the very lower barrier t o inversion.Though the chemistry of organogermanium compounds with tetravalent germanium has been described,24 the structural details of these compounds are much less investigated. We have initiated a study to cast light upon this unexplored field chiefly by n.m.r. (including 73Ge n.m.r.) spectroscopy ' 9 ' y 6 and molecular mechanics calculations. Germacyclohexane (1G) is a key compound in organogermanium chemistry and its role is exactly the same as that of R pJ\R 1 1 4 6 M e X = C c y c l o h e x a n e s ( C ) X = Si s i l a c y c l o h e x a n e s ( S ) X = Ge germacyclohexanes (GI cyclohexane (1C) in the chemistry of carbocyclic compounds.Crucial features of the chemistry of (IC) are associated with the stereochemistry of the ring, e.g., ring reversal and its barrier, 1,3-diaxial interactions or relative stabilities of equatorial and axial conformers of monosubstituted species. Although these are fully documented for (lC),' the equivalent has not been reported for (W.The situation is slightly better for silacyclohexane (1s) and derivatives. Thus, Ouellette 13 reported molecular mechanics calculations of (lS), 1-methyl-(2S), 4-methyl-(4S), and 1,ldimethyl-1-silacyclohexane (5S), and found that the axial isomer of (2s) is slightly more favourable than the equatorial (by 0.20 kcal mol-l), while Jensen and Bushweller attempted to determine the barrier height of ring reversal of (5S), which was found in the range of 5.25-5.75 kcal mol-'.Carleer and Anteunis l o reported that the conformational energy, i.e., the free energy difference between the axial and equatorial conformers, as determined from the spin-spin coupling constant for the methyl group of (2S), is 0.34 kcal mol-' in favour of the axial position, in agreement with the prediction of molecular mechanics calculations.*The purpose of this study is to obtain stereochemical information on the hitherto unexplored (1G) and its methyl derivatives by means of n.m.r. spectroscopy and molecular mechanics calculations. Combined with the corresponding information for (1s) and (lC), it is expected to open a new field of chemistry of the heteracyclohexanes of Group IVB elements.For this purpose (IG), 1-, 3-, and 4-methyl-1-germacyclohexane (2G)--(4G), and 1,l-, 1,3-, and 1,4-dimethyl-l-germacyclohexane (5G)-(7G)were prepared, and their I3C and 73Ge n.m.r. s...