The molecular structures and the dimethyl rotamer properties of N,N-dimethylthioformamide (TFA) and N,Ndimethylthiocarbamoyl chloride (TCC) have been investigated using gas-phase electron diffraction (GED) data recorded at a temperature of 25 °C, together with ab initio molecular orbital (MO) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, as well as normal coordinate analysis (NCA) using MP2/6-31+G(d,p) scaled force fields. The molecules exist in the gas phase as a single near-planar conformer, not exhibiting true C s symmetry. The orientation of the two methyl groups on the nitrogen atom have been closely examined by ab initio MO and DFT calculations, and these have been found to be oriented differently in the two molecules. Relevant structural parameter values obtained from the GED refinements, using values from the MP2/6-31+G(d,p) calculations as constraints, were as follows (values under C 1 symmetry assumption with estimated 2σ uncertainties): For TFA, bond lengths (r g ) were r(CdS) ) 1.649(2) Å, r(C 2 -N) ) 1.346(3) Å, r(〈C 5,9 -N〉) ) 1.463( 2) Å (av), r(〈C-H〉) ) 1.125( 4) Å (av), bond angles (∠ R ) were ∠NC 2 S ) 127.0(3)°, ∠〈C 2 NC 5,9 〉 ) 121.8( 5)°(av), ∠〈NC 5,9 H〉 ) 110.4(7)°, and torsion angle φ 1 (S 3 -C 2 -N 1 -C 5 ) ) 12.8°( 2.7°. For TCC, bond lengths (r g ) were r(CdS) ) 1.641(3) Å, r(C 2 -N) ) 1.348(4) Å, r(C 2 -Cl) ) 1.772(4) Å, r(〈C 5,9 -N〉) ) 1.472(3) Å (av), r(〈C-H〉) ) 1.109( 8) Å (av), bond angles (∠ R ) were ∠NC 2 S ) 127.4(6)°, ∠〈C 2 NC 5,9 〉 ) 122.0(6)°(av), ∠〈NC 2 Cl〉 ) 113.0(4)°, and torsion angle φ 1 (S 3 -C 2 -N 1 -C 5 ) ) -5.5°( 10.1°. The results are discussed and compared with the oxygen analogues and previous results for the TCC molecule, as well as with similar molecules in the literature.