Raman and infrared spectra,conformational stability,vibrational assignment,barriers to internal rotation and ab initio calculations of but-2-enoyl chloride

The Raman (3500–10 cm⁻¹) and infrared (3200–50 cm⁻¹) spectra were recorded for the fluid and solid phases of but-2-enoyl chloride (crotonyl chloride), trans-CH₃CHCHCClO, where the methyl group is trans to the CClO group, and a complete vibrational assignment is proposed. These data were interpreted on the basis that the s-trans (anti) form (two double bonds oriented trans to one another) is the most stable form in the fluid phases and the only conformer remaining in the solid state. The asymmetric torsional fundamental of the more stable s-trans and the higher energy s-cis (syn) form were observed at 97.5 and 86.9 cm⁻¹, respectively. From these data the asymmetric potential function governing the internal rotation about the C C bond was determined. The potential coefficients are V₁ = −111 ± 2, V₂ = 1860 ± 48, V₃ = 6 ± 2, V₄, = −43 ± 24 and V₆ = −22 ± 6. The s-trans to s-cis and s-cis to s-trans barriers were determined to be 1890 and 1785 cm⁻¹, respectively, with an enthalpy difference between the conformers of 105 ± 52 cm⁻¹ [300 ± 149 cal mol⁻¹ (1 cal = 4.184 J)]. Similarly, the barrier governing internal rotation of the CH₃ group for the s-trans conformer was also determined to be 912 ± 30 (2.61 ± 0.09 kcal mol⁻¹) from the torsional fundamental observed in the far-infared spectrum of the gas. All these data were compared with the corresponding quantities obtained from ab initio Hartree–Fock gradient calculations employing the RHF/3–21G*, RHF/6–31G* and/or MP2/6–31G* basis sets. These results were compared with the corresponding quantities for some similar molecules.