Infrared study of some 2-substituted-6-hydroxy-4-pyrimidine carboxylic acids: Correlation with MO-calculations

Abstract

The IR spectra of a series of 2-substituted-6-hydroxy-4-pyrimidine carboxylic acids (substituent = OH, SH, CH3, CH3S and NH2) were studied from the aspect of the influence of the subsitutent on the polarizability of some bonds, keto-enol tautomerism and hydrogen bond formation. The spectra were taken using solids due to the low solubility of the acids. Theoretical calculations were done using the MNDO-AM1 semiempirical molecular-orbital method. The stabilities of various tautomers were calculated simulating the dielectric continuum using the COSMO facility of the MOPAC program package. Theoretical calculations were made for all the possible tautomers of the 2-substituted-6-hydroxy-4-pyrimidine carboxylic acids. For the most stable isomers, the vibrational spectra were calculated. For the majority of the compounds the most stable isomer was identified having the structure 2-Y-6-oxo-4-carboxy-3H-pyrimidine. Besides this structure, for the 2-amino-, and 2-methyl- derivatives the zwitterionic forms have very similar stability. The 2-hydroxy compound is most stable as the 2,6-dioxo-1H, 3H isomer. The calculated vibrations for the compounds with a single stable structure correlate very well with the experimental frequencies. For the 2-methyl- and 2-amino- compounds the correlation is considerably less satisfactory. The most probable reason for this deviation is the existence of two or more tautomets in equilibrium. The correlation of the measured frequencies and the pKa values of the acids, indicate that the same tautomers exist in the solid state and in the solution.