Ab initio calculations of 35 Cl nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) frequencies (ν Q ) in trichloroacetyl halides (CCl 3 COHal, where Hal=F, Cl, Br or I) are performed. The estimated ν Q values are compared with experimental values obtained by Gordeev et al [1]. Calculation of the average of 35 Cl NQR frequencies in CCl 3 COCl demonstrated that the difference between the calculated and experimental values are less than 3.1%. This indicates that the density functional theory is a powerful technique that for predicting unknown electronic states before performing experiments. A linear correlation between Hal-C bond length and ν Q is observed. This hence provides a scheme to estimate interatomic distances using NQR frequencies.