Internal Rotation III The Potential Barrier in 1, 2-Dichloroethane

Abstract

The potential energy as a function of azimuthal angle has been computed on the basis of an inverse fifth power of the distance law for the energy of interaction. Suitable corrections for second order interactions were also made. A three minima potential curve is obtained of the form $$\text{V=0.733(1−}\cos \text{φ)+1.123(1−}\cos \text{3φ)+0.197(1−}\cos \text{φ)(1−}\cos \text{3φ)\hspace{0.17em}}\mathrm{K\; cal./mole}.$$ The barrier is computed to be 2.81 K cal./mole.