Tautomeric constant

Often electrophilic reagents can attack both nitrogen atoms of the mesomeric pyrazolate and indazolate anions. In this case there is no simple relationship between the tautomeric constant and the product composition. 

The determination of pi a values is probably the most generally useful method for the investigation of tautomerism. This method was first employed in the heterocyclic field in the early 1950 s by Tucker and Irvin and by Angyal and Angyal. There are two empirical dissociation constants, and K2, for the conjugate acid (HXH+) of a tautomeric compound. Constants Kt and K2 are, in effect, a summation of the true dissociation constants Ka, Kb, Kc, and Kd of the individual tautomeric forms (see scheme 43, where XH and HX are tautomers) and the tautomeric constant, Kt] these constants are related by the following equations ... 

The electronic spectrum of a compound arises from its 7r-electron system which, to a first approximation, is unaffected by substitution of an alkyl group for a hydrogen atom. Thus, comparison of the ultraviolet spectrum of a potentially tautomeric compound with the spectra of both alkylated forms often indicates which tautomer predominates. For example, Fig. 1 shows that 4-mercaptopyridine exists predominantly as pyrid-4-thione. In favorable cases, i.e., when the spectra of the two alkylated forms are very different and/or there are appreciable amounts of both forms present at equilibrium, the tautomeric constant can be evaluated. By using this method, it was shown, for example, that 6-hydroxyquinoline exists essentially as such in ethanol but that it is in equilibrium with about 1% of the zwitterion form in aqueous solution (Fig. 2). 

In the case of only one form of the indicator undergoing the tautomeric change to a coloured form (this is the case of phenolphthalein anion) the equilibrium between the original form of the indicator anion and its tautomeric form is characterized by the tautomeric constant... 

Tautomerism on polymer should be quite sensitive to neighbouring group effects (composition and unit distribution, steric hindrance and tacticity) and to the microenvironment polarity in solution (copolymer-solvent interactions, critical concentration c of coil interpenetration). The determination of the tautomerism constant KT=(total conjugated forms)/(keto form) in dilute (csemi-dilute (c>c ) solution from H-NMR at 250 MHz and from UV spectroscopy has been reported elsewhere (39,43). The following spectrometric data related to keto-2-picolyl and keto-qui-naldyl structures are quite illustrative ... 

Hydroxyaminobenzo-furan and -thiophene (32a X = O, S) are the unstable enam-ine tautomers of the corresponding oximes (32b). Kinetics of the tautomeric interconversions have been measured, yielding tautomeric constants the latter have been compared with the corresponding keto-enol constants. The enamines are ca 40 times less stable, relative to the oximes, than are the enols, relative to the ketones. The minor tautomers are ca 100 times more stable (relative to the major) for the benzothiophene system. 

Tautomeric Constants and Thermodynamic Parameters for Cytcsine Tautomers... 

For comparison with the theoretical predictions, we have collected in Table II, together with the previously discussed tautomeric constants, some thermodynamic parameters characterizing the tautomeric conversion of cytosine. 

A comparison of the tautomeric constants in the series of N4-substituted cytosines indicates an interesting trend. As seen above, in the case of cytosine itself, the ratio of the tautomers of the amine type 2 to those of the imine type 6 is about 105. In the case of jV4-amino-cytosine134 the amine form 22 predominates by a factor of about 30, while N4-hydroxy compounds have mainly the imine form 21 with tautomeric constant 10 [i.e., Kt (amine/imine) = — 10 1]. Another study136 of this constant gave the value of 25 [Kt (amine/imine) = 4 x 10-2] in favor of the imine. 

CNDO/2 Cl calculations performed by Bertran et al.150 to evaluate the variation of the tautomeric constant Kf,e upon excitation do predict a shift toward the rare imine forms 6 in the first excited singlet state, and a shift toward the normal form 2 in the first triplet state. 

It was shown by several experiments that 5-bromouracil still exists in the dilactam form 32, but the comparison of ionization constants shows97 that Xt38,28 for 5-bromo-l-methyluracil is 103-3 or 101-7 depending on the method of estimation. These values can be compared with the corresponding tautomeric constants for 1-methyluracil itself which are 1040 or 103-3, respectively. Although the two methods give different results, it is clear that the 5-Br substituent causes... 

Often more complex situations arise in which additional tautomers or other forms arise via pH-independent reactions. These can all be related back to the reference ionic species by additional ratios R, which may describe equilibria for tautomerization, hydration, isomerization, etc. (Eq. 6-82).76 In the case illustrated, only one of the ratios, namely R2 or R3, is likely to be a tautomerization constant because, as a rule, H2P and P will not have tautomers. Equations analogous to Eqs. 6-76 to 6-82 can be written easily to derive Kc, K0 and any other microscopic constants desired from the stoichiometric constants plus the ratios R, to R4. While it is easy to describe tautomerism by equations such as Eqs. 6-76 and 6-82 it is often difficult... 

Evaluate the tautomerization constants fCT(A) and KT(Hy the hydration constants KH and KH>, and the microscopic pKa values pKA, pKB, pKc, and pfCD in the foregoing scheme. Assume that the hydration ratios Kh and Kw are the same in H20 (spectropho-tometric data) and in D20 (NMR data). 

It is also possible to examine the effect of oxygen substituents on the stability of arenonium ions. Wirz has studied keto-enol equilibria for phenol,151 naphthol (Wirz J, Personal communication), and anthrol.152,153 The tautomeric constants may be combined with p/y,s for protonation of the keto tautomer and ionization of the phenol to provide pifas f°r protonation of the aromatic ring of phenol and the phenoxide ion. As illustrated in Scheme 18 the unstable keto tautomer of phenol 22 was produced by photolysis of the bicyclooctene dione 21. Except in the case of the anthrone a pA a for protonation of the keto tautomer has not been measured directly. However, values can be estimated from the pfor protonation of the 4,4-dimethylated analog136 with a correction for the substituent effect of the methyl groups. 

Flash photolysis has provided a wealth of kinetic and thermodynamic data for tautomerization reactions. Equilibrium constants of enolization, KE, spanning a range of 30 orders of magnitude, have thereby been determined accurately as the ratio of the rate constants of enolization, kE, and of ketonization, kK. Nowadays, tautomerization constants KE can be predicted with useful... 

IR and UV/Vis [65a], mass spectrometric [65b], photoelectron [65c], microwave [65d], as well as low-temperature matrix-isolation IR spectroscopic measurements [65e] reveal that 2- and 4-hydroxypyridine (as well as 2- and 4-mercaptopyridine [65f]) exist in the gas phase and in inert matrices (N2, Ar) under equilibrium conditions mainly in the lactim (hydroxy or mercapto) form, in contrast to the situation in solution. While in nonpolar solvents such as cyclohexane and chloroform both tautomers exist in comparable amounts, the tautomeric equilibrium is shifted entirely in favour of the lactam (0x0 or thioxo) form in polar solvents such as water, as well as in the crystalUne state [66, 67, 141-145, 251-255], Supercritical-fluid 1,1-difluoroethane can be used to adjust the tautomeric constant Ki = [(llb)]l[(lla)] iso thermally over a continuum from gas-phase values to those measured in polar solvents, simply by increasing the pressure [254]. The gas-phase and solution equilibrium constants of 2- and 4-hydroxypyridine are given in Table 4-4. 

---