Tautomeric properties and gas-phase structure of acetylacetone.

The tautomeric and structural properties of acetylacetone, CH3C(O)CH2C(O)CH3, have been studied by gas-phase electron diffraction (GED) and quantum chemical calculations (B3LYP and MP2 approximation with different basis sets up to aug-cc-pVTZ). The analysis of GED intensities resulted in the presence of 100(3)% of the enol tautomer at 300(5) K and 64(5)% of the enol at 671(7) K. The enol tautomer possesses Cs symmetry with a planar ring and strongly asymmetric hydrogen bond.

Tautomeric and conformational properties of benzoylacetone, CH3-C(O)-CH2-C(O)-C6H5: gas-phase electron diffraction and quantum chemical study.

Tautomeric and structural properties of benzoylacetone, CH(3)-C(O)-CH(2)-C(O)-C(6)H(5), have been studied by gas-phase electron diffraction (GED) and quantum chemical calculations (B3LYP and MP2 approximation with different basis sets up to aug-cc-pVTZ). Analysis of GED intensities resulted in the presence of 100% enol tautomer at 331(5) K. The existence of two possible enol conformers in about equal amounts is confirmed by both GED and quantum chemical results.