The gas-phase rotamers of 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethane - force field,vibrational amplitudes and geometry - a joint electron-diffraction and spectroscopic study

The gas-phase conformational mixture of the anti and gauche rotamers of 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethane has been subjected to an electron-diffraction study at 253 K. Effective least-squares refinement of the geometry and relative proportions of the conformers was achieved with vibrational amplitudes for both conformers fixed at values calculated from spectroscopic data. In order to calculate the amplitudes, a force field was deduced which reproduced the observed wave numbers for both conformers; the assignment of the modes proposed in the literature was modified slightly. At 253 K, the rotamer composition was found to be 84% anti : 16%gauche, which corresponds to an energy difference of 1170 cal mol^?1; the geometrical parameters (r_a values) and e.s.d. are C-C = 1.518 ± 0.005 Å, C-H = 1.098 ± 0.006 Å, C-F = 1.350 ± 0.002 Å. ∠CCF = 108.2 ± 0.3°, ∠FCF = 107.3 ± 0-3°, ∠ CCH = 110.3 ± 1.0δ, and the torsion angleτ _hcch in the gauche form is 78 ± 2°.