If a pyranose ring has an electronegative substituent at the anomeric carbon then this substituent is more likely to take the axial configuration than the equatorial configuration. This is a consequence of a general effect (the generalized anomeric effect) that in a chain of atoms X–C–Y–C, in which Y and X are atoms with nonbonding electron pairs (e.g. F, O, N), the synclinal conformation is more likely. For example, in the compound CH₃–O–CH₂Cl, rotation can occur along the O–C bond. The conformation in which the chlorine atom is closer to the methyl group is preferred (the lone pairs on the oxygen atom act as groups in determining the conformation).