Trifluorothioacetic acid-
S-(trifluoromethyl)ester, CF
3C(O)SCF
3, was prepared by reacting CF
3C(O)Cl and AgSCF
3 at 50 °C. The compound was characterized by
13C-,
19F-NMR, UV, and vibrational spectroscopy as well as by gas electron diffraction (GED) and quantum chemical calculations (HF, MP2, and B3LYP methods 6−31G(d) and 6−311+G(2df) basis sets). GED and vibrational spectroscopy result in the presence of a single conformer with
C1 symmetry and synperiplanar orientation of the S−CF
3 bond relative to the C
O bond. This result is in agreement with quantum chemical calculations which predict the anti conformer to be higher in energy by about 4 kcal/mol. An assignment of the IR (gas) and Raman (liquid) spectra is proposed, and the GED analysis results in the following skeletal geometric parameters (
ra and ∠
a values with 3σ uncertainties; these parameters are thermal averages and are not inconsistent with calculated equilibrium values): C
O = 1.202(6) Å, C−C = 1.525(10) Å, S−C(sp
2) = 1.774(3) Å, S−C(sp
3) = 1.824 (3) Å. O=C−C = 118.7(21)°, O=C−S = 127.1(15)°, C−S−C = 99.8 (13)°.