Ab initio studies of structural features not easily amenable to experiment : Part 40. Structural and conformational investigations of 2-butanone and 2-pentanone

The ab initio gradient refined 4-21G geometries of two conformations of 2-butanone and of six conformations of 2-pentanone are reported. The C---C---C=O torsional energies of both systems were determined with geometry optimization at each point and are compared with those previously calculated for some homologous aldehydes and carboxylic acids. In agreement with the structural trends known for C---H bonds in methyl groups adjacent to C=O, it is found that a C---C bond eclipsing an adjacent C=O bond is more stable and shorter than in a skew position (C---C---C= O = 120°). The sum total of the 4-21G results available for various systems may support the following general rule: in X--- C---C=O systems the C---X bond is relatively short when syn-coplanar with C==O (X---C---C= O = 0°), and relatively long when skew with C=O (X---C---C=O 120°).