The Richest Collection of Tautomeric Polymorphs: The Case of 2‐Thiobarbituric Acid

Five new polymorphs and one hydrated form of 2‐thiobarbituric acid have been isolated and characterised by solid‐state methods. In both the crystalline form II and in the hydrate form, the 2‐thiobarbituric molecules are present in the enol form, whereas only the keto isomer is present in crystalline forms I (reported in 1967 by Calas and Martinex), III , V and VI . In form IV , on the other hand, a 50:50 ordered mixture of enol/keto molecules is present. All new forms have been characterised by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction, 1D and 2D (¹H, ¹³C, and ¹⁵N) solid‐state NMR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X‐ray powder diffraction at variable temperature. It has been possible to induce keto–enol conversion between the forms by mechanical methods. The role of hydrogen‐bond interactions in determining the relative stability of the polymorphs and as a driving force in the conversions has been ascertained. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the 2‐thiobarbituric family of crystal forms represents the richest collection of examples of tautomeric polymorphism so far reported in the literature.