Solvent effect on tautomeric equilibria and dipole moments of some alpha substituted benzoylacetanilides

Based on dipole moment measurements, a study was made of the keto-enol equilibria of five alpha substituted benzoylacetanilide derivatives in two non-polar and one polar solvents at 30°C. The enol mole fractions of the compounds investigated were determined by analysis of their ultraviolet spectra. The same type of study was extended to salicylanilide for its resemblance to the enol tautomer of these compounds. A deduction of the most probable configurations of the keto and enol forms was tentatively made through a comparison between the dipole moments of some suggested configurations for these forms of benzoylacetanilide and those measured in benzene for the alpha methyl benzoylacetanilide and salicylanilide, respectively. These inferred configurations were used to calculate the dipole moments of both tautomers of the other compounds, and consequently, the dipole moment values of their tautomeric mixtures in dioxane and chloroform. A comparison between the dipole moment values of their tautomeric mixtures in dioxane and chloroform. A comparison between the dipole moment values calculated in this way and those measured indicated a solute-solvent interaction with dioxane, which chloroform behaved as a non-interacting solvent.