The structures of acetylacetone,trifluoroacetyl-acetone and trifluoroacetone

The molecular geometries of three structurally related compounds have been determined by electron diffraction in the gas phase. Acetylacetone, which exists primarily as the enol tautomer, was found to have a planar symmetric ring with the following r_g values: C₁-C₂ = 1.405± 0.005 Å, C₂-C₄ = 1.510± 0.005 Å, C-O = 1.287± 0.006 Å, C-H = 1.090± 0.010 Å, ∠C₂C₁C₃ = 118.3 ± 1.8°, ∠C₁C₃O₁ = 123.2± 1.7°, ∠C₁C₃C₅ = 122.0± 1.2°, and ∠CCH = 110.2 ± 2.1°. A model in which the enol proton is in the ring plane located symmetrically between the oxygen atoms is in best agreement with the diffraction data. The structure of trifluoroacetylacetone is similar to that of acetylacetone. The r_g values for this compound are C₁-C₃ = 1.4164 ± 0.006 Å, C₃-C₅ = 1.511 ± 0.021 Å, C₂-C₄ = 1.536 ± 0.018 Å, C-O = 1.270 ± 0.008 Å, C-H = 1.088 ± 0.039 Å, C-F = 1.340 ± 0.005 Å, ∠C₂C₁C₃ = 117.2 ± 1.8°, ∠C₁C₂O₂ = 123.6 ± 1.7°, ∠C₁C₃C₅ = 118.1 ± 2.3°, ∠C₁C₂C₄ = 123.0 ± 1.4°, ∠CCH = 109.0± 4.8°, and ∠CCF = 110.6± 0.8°. The r_g values for the trifluoroacetone are: C₁-C₂ = 1.481 ± 0.019 Å, C₁-C₃ = 1.562 ± 0.011 Å, CO = 1.207 ± 0.006 Å, C-H = 1.089 ± 0.024 Å, C-F = 1.339 ± 0.003 Å, ∠C₂C₁O = 122.0 ± 1.1°, ∠C₃C₁O = 116.8 ± 0.7 °, ∠CCH = 105.0 ± 2.2 °, and ∠CCF = 110.7 ± 0.3°. The significance of the error estimates is discussed briefly.