“…It appears that interaction between bulky substituents in the 1,1,3 positions of 1,3-butadiene (1,1,3 type of interaction) is necessary for twisting the molecule out of the strans conformation. 25 For hexachloro-1,3-butadiene there is strong evidence (ir, Raman) for a cisoid structure.24 '26 The unlikelihood of a completely s-cis structure due to halogen-halogen overlap supports this view.27 Hexachloro-1.3-butadiene and the pentachlorobutadienyl esters [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] have in effect two 1,1,3 interactions, strongly suggesting that they too exist in a cisoid conformation as indicated. Compounds 25-39 were readily synthesized by reaction of the appropriate trialkyl phosphite, dialkyl phosphonite, or methyl diphenylphosphinite with l,l,l,4,4-pentachloro-3buten-2-one (3) in ether.…”