Conformers and intramolecular hydrogen bonding of the oxalic acid monomer and its anions

Density functional theory, B3LYP/6‐31G** and B3LYP/6‐311+G(2d,p), and ab initio MP2/6‐31G** calculations have been carried out to investigate the conformers, transition states, and energy barriers of the conformational processes of oxalic acid and its anions. QCISD/6‐31G** geometrical optimization is also performed in the stable forms. Its calculated energy differences between the two most stable conformers are very near to the related observed value at 7.0 kJ/mol. It is found that the structures and relative energies of oxalic acid conformers predicted by these methods show similar results, and that the conformer L1 (C_2h) with the double‐interfunctional‐groups hydrogen bonds is the most stable conformer. The magnitude of hydrogen bond energies depends on the energy differences of various optimized structures. The hydrogen bond energies will be about 32 kJ/mol for interfunctional groups, 17 kJ/mol for weak interfunctional groups, 24 kJ/mol for intra‐COOH in (COOH)₂, and 60 kJ/mol for interfunctional groups in (COOH)COO^?1 ion if calculated using the B3LYP/6‐311+G(2d,p) method. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 76: 541–551, 2000