"The preferred conformations of 2-bromo- and 2-chlorocyclohexanones depend on the polarity of the solvent. In the diequatorial conformer there is considerable electrostatic repulsion. Note that parallel dipoles are destabilizing in a nonpolar solvent. … Intramolecular hydrogen bonding between 1,3-diaxial OH groups in nonpolar sol- vents confers appreciable stability to a conformer. In polar solvents, however, the solvent competes for intermolecular H-bond formation, resulting in normal steric effects dominating the equilibrium."