THE molecular configuration of benzil has been the object of considerable interest for some time because of unusual physical characteristics, such as its large optical rotatory power. Caldwell and Le Fevre1 measured its dipole moment in several solvents and compared it with that of phenanthroquinone, which is planar and contains two cis carbonyl groups. From the lower (3.5 D) electric dipole moment of benzil these authors concluded that the molecule must be skew and that the two C6H5—C=O halves must lie in two different planes making an angle of 90°–100° with each other.