Conformational stability,barriers to internal rotation,normal coordinate analysis,and vibrational assignment of chloroacetyl bromide

The infrared spectra (3200 to 30 cm^–1) of gaseous and solid chloroacetyl bromide, CH₂ClC(O)Br, and the Raman spectra (3200 to 10 cm^–1) of the gas, liquid (with depolarization data), and solid have been recorded. From the observed asymmetric torsional transitions, the potential function governing internal rotation of the CH₂Cl moiety has been determined with the following coefficients:V₁=336±11,V₂=73±10,V₃=757+7,V₄=103±3, andV₆=5±2 cm^–1. This potential function is consistent with s-trans to gauche and gauche to gauche barriers of 963±11 and 709±12cm^–1, respectively, and enthalpy difference of 373 ± 24 cm^–1 with the dihedral angle of the gauche rotamer being 115°. The enthalpy difference has been determined experimentally from the studies of the Raman spectra at different temperatures to be 359±68 cm^–1 (1.03±0.19 kcal mol^–1) and 507±24 cm^–1 (1.45±0.07 kcal mol^–1) for the gas and liquid, respectively, with the s-trans conformer being the more stable conformer in the gas and liquid and the only one present in the annealed solid. A complete assignment of the vibrational fundamentals is proposed from spectral data obtained for the gas, liquid, and solid. The assignment is supported by a normal coordinate calculation utilizing a modified valence force field to obtain the frequencies for the normal vibrations and the potential energy distribution. The results are discussed and compared to the corresponding quantities for some similar molecules.Taken in part from the thesis of H. V. Phan, which will be submitted to the Department of Chemistry in partial fulfillment of the Ph.D. degree.