Investigation of keto–enol tautomerism in tetraketonate ligands

Molecular structure, vibration analysis, and natural bond orbital study of four derivatives of tetraketonate ligand were investigated in three different solvents using density functional theory B3LYP/6-31++G** method. The solution phase studies were carried out using an Onsager model. According to the obtained results the enol form of the ligands is more stable than keto form, even in solvents with high dielectric constant such as DMSO. This result is also confirmed experimentally using NMR studies for tetraacetylethane. Their stabilities are due to the presence of hydrogen bonding in the enol tautomers. A comparison among different possible enol forms of the substituted tetraketonate ligands demonstrated that three factors control the stability of the compounds as hydrogen bonding, steric hindrance, and charge distribution. The effectiveness of each of these factors on the stability of ligands depends on the nature of the substituent attached to the ligand.