The IR (gas) and Raman (liquid) spectra of FC(O)NSCl
2 demonstrate the presence of a conformational mixture inboth phases. According to a gas electron diffraction study, the main conformer (94(8)%) possesses a syn-synstructure (C(O)F group synperiplanar with respect to the SCl
2 bisector and the C=O bond synperiplanar to theN=S bond). Quantum chemical calculations (HF, B3LYP and MP2 with 6-31G* basis set, and MP2/6-311(2df))predict a syn-anti structure for the second conformer. Analysis of the IR (gas) spectrum results in a contributionof 5(1)% of the minor form, corresponding to a Gibbs free energy difference
G![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
=
G![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
(syn-anti) -
G![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
(syn-syn)= 1.75(15) kcal/mol. This value is reproduced very well by quantum chemical calculations, which include electroncorrelation effects (
G![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
= 1.28-1.56 kcal/mol). The HF approximation overestimates this energy difference (
G![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
= 3.24 kcal/mol).