CONFORMATIONAL STABILITY, BARRIERS TO INTERNAL-ROTATION, AB-INITIO CALCULATIONS AND VIBRATIONAL ASSIGNMENT FOR CHLORODIFLUOROACETYL CHLORIDE

The Raman (1900 to 10 cm(-1)) and infrared (1900 to 30 cm(-1)) spectra of chlorodifluoroacetyl chloride, CClF2CClO, in the gas and solid pha ses have been recorded. The Raman spectrum of the liquid, and qualitat ive depolarization ratios, have also been obtained. These data have be en interpreted on the basis of an equilibrium between the gauche and t rans conformers (chlorine atom trans to the other chlorine atom) in th e gas and liquid phases. From the study of the Raman spectrum of the l iquid at different temperatures, a value of 361 +/- 40 cm(-1) (1.03 +/ - 0.11 kcalmol(-1)) was determined for Delta H with the gauche conform er being the more stable form. A similar study of the sample dissolved in liquid xenon gave a Delta H value of 249 +/- 60 cm(-1) (0.71 +/- 0 .17 kcalmol(-1)), again with the gauche rotamer the more stable confor mer. Therefore, the gauche conformer is the predominate rotamer in the gas and liquid and the only conformer present in the annealed solid. A complete vibrational assignment is proposed for both conformers base d on infrared band contours, Raman depolarization data, group frequenc ies and normal coordinate calculations. Optimized geometries, conforma tional stabilities, unsealed and scaled vibrational frequencies and ha rmonic force fields are reported for both conformers from ab initio ca lculations utilizing the RHF/3-21G, RHF/6-31G* and/or MP2/6-31G* basi s sets. These results are compared with the corresponding results for some similar molecules.