1182trans-1,2,3-TRICYANOC YCLOPROPANE ring skeleton, i.e. the lengthening of the bond C(2)-C(2~, can be viewed as contributing to the relaxation of a repulsive interaction between the substituents. In view of the results of cyclopropanecarbonitrile (Kiers et aL, 1985), the effects of cyano substituents on the cyclopropane structure are approximately additive, but do not solely depend on topology, but also on the stereochemistry of the individual molecule.This latter aspect is expected to be even more important for cyclopropanes multiply substituted by carbonyl groups, which additionally introduce several conformational degrees of freedom. We are currently investigating the cumulative effect of halogen substituents on the geometry of the cyclopropane moiety in order to test whether the findings of the present investigation can be transferred to substituents that are not n acceptors.We thank the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie for financial support. 0108-2701/8 7/061182-04501.50 crystallographic mirror symmetry is imposed. The mean ring bond length (corrected for libration) is 1.504/~; the chlorine substituents thus appear to have little effect on this parameter.