A study of the planarity of the pyrrolone fragment in 2‐isopropyl‐2,3‐dihydro‐1H‐isoindol‐1‐one

Orthophthalaldehyde (o‐phthalaldehyde, OPA) is an aromatic dialdehyde bearing two electron‐withdrawing carbonyl groups. The reactions of OPA with primary amines are broadly applied for the synthesis of important heterocyclic compounds with biological relevance. A number of such reactions have been investigated recently and several structures of condensation products have been reported, however, the complex reaction mechanism is still not fully understood and comprises concurrent as well as consecutive reactions. The reaction products depend on the primary amine which reacts with OPA, the reaction environment (solvent) and the proportion of the reactants. The title molecule, C₁₁H₁₃NO, the product of the reaction of OPA with isopropylamine, contains a five‐membered pyrrole C₄N ring with a carbonyl substituent, which forms part of the isoindolinone unit. Though this pyrrole ring contains one C atom in the sp³‐hybridized state, it is fairly planar. The title molecule has been compared with similar structures retrieved from the Cambridge Structural Database in order to study this phenomenon. The planarity of this fragment has been explained by the presence of partially delocalized C—C, C—N and C—O bonds, and by an inner angle in the planar pentagonal ring (∼108°), which is close to the ideal tetrahedral value for the sp³‐hybridized state of the constituent C atom. Due to this propitious angle, this C atom can be present in states intermediate between sp³‐ and sp²‐hybridized in different structures, while still maintaining the planarity of the ring. There are only weak intermolecular C—H…O hydrogen bonds and C—H…π‐electron ring interactions in the structure. In particular, it is the pyrrole ring which is involved in these interactions.