The structure of SF
5OSO
2F has been investigated using gas-phase electron diffraction and quantum-chemicalcalculations. It is found to exist primarily in the gauche form (SF
5 group gauche relative to the S-F bond of theSO
2F group with
![](/images/gifchars/phi.gif)
(S-O-S-F = 71(7)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
). A small contribution of the trans conformer cannot be excluded.Photoelectron spectroscopy gives ionization energies for the sulfur 2p electrons that reflect the relativeelectronegativities of fluorine and oxygen. The widths of the peaks in the photoelectron spectra indicate that thereis considerable vibrational excitation associated with the core ionization of the sulfur atoms.