Possibility of intramolecular hydrogen bonds in 8-methoxypsoralene

Variants of the formation of weak intramolecular hydrogen bonds of C-H…O type in 8-methox-ypsoralene (8-MOP) were considered. Quantum-chemical calculations showed the possibility of an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the protons of the methoxy group and both (furan and pyrone) neighboring oxygen atoms of the psoralene system. The energy gain of this binding was detected by DFT, but not found by the Hartree-Fock method. The bond with pyrone oxygen is energetically more favorable, though the difference in energy between the two types of minima found on PES was small. This interaction had earlier been recorded for linear 8-substituted furocoumarins other than 8-MOP. The conclusion was drawn that the calculated energy barriers on the PES of methoxy group rotation were small enough (2.5 kcal/mol in the Hartree-Fock method, 1.1 kcal/mol in PBE, and 0.9 kcal/mol in B3LYP) to state that the methoxy group rotates freely, creating a steric hindrance for two close-lying oxygens of the psoralene structure, which are not involved in lone electron pair-π system interactions.