Toward understanding tautomeric switching in 4-hydroxynaphthaldehyde and its dimers: A DFT and quantum topology study

Abstract

The electronic structures and stabilities of all benzenoid (enol) and quinonoid (keto) forms of 4-hydroxynaphthaldehyde (ALD-14) have been investigated using density functional theory (DFT) with a range of functionals and basis sets. The anti-enol form represents the global minimum energy structure. Low rotation barriers of both the hydroxyl and the aldehyde groups characterize this form. Fourier analysis of the potential energy function for rotation indicate that the conformational preference of ALD-14 is determined by both the dipole–dipole repulsion and bond moments interactions. Further, three different ALD-14 dimer complexes are investigated, i.e. head-to-tail (HT), head-to-head (HH), and stacked (S) forms. The analysis of natural bond order, quantum topology features of the Laplacian of the electron density, binding energies and structural parameters of these dimers point to comparable stabilities of the HT and S-dimers, with a preference for a stacking contact. The origin of its stability can be traced to π-conjugative, H-bonding and dispersion interactions.