EN
2-[(2-Ethoxy-3,4-dioxocyclobut-1-en-yl)amino]propanamide (N-alaninamidoamide of squaric acid ethyl ester) has been characterized structurally and spectroscopically by ab initio calculations and IR-LD spectroscopy of oriented crystals suspended in a nematic liquid crystal. The results are compared with single crystal X-ray structures illustrating the possibilities of this experimental approach to obtaining structural information as well as assigning IR bands.