A light-induced transient bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)carbene trapped in a yield of ca. 20% in thecrystal of the precursor diazomethane was characterized by X-ray crystallography at low temperatures. Themost interesting geometrical parameters are the carbenic angle
![](/images/gifchars/theta.gif)
and the bond distances between the carbeniccarbon and the phenyl carbons. The obtained
![](/images/gifchars/theta.gif)
is 142(2)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
, while the distances are 1.437(15) and 1.423(16) Å,respectively. These values are significantly different from the corresponding values for the precursordiazomethane (127.1(1)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
and 1.477(1) and 1.480(1) Å, respectively). On the basis of IR spectroscopy andtheoretical calculations, the carbene is judged to be in the triplet ground state.