Conformation Preferences of 1,2-Dichlorotetranitroethane

The dipole moments of 1,2-dichlorotetranitroethane in carbon tetrachloride and benzene show that the compound favors the gauche conformer in solution-state. Experimentally derived values of the energy difference between the gauche and trans conformers and their population quotient are compared with values estimated by ab initio calculations. The agreement between experiment and theory is found to be excellent.