Tautomerism of pyrimidine bases—uracil,cytosine, isocytosine: Theoretical study with complete optimization of geometry

The semiempirical MINDO /3 method with complete optimization of geometry is employed to calculate the electronic ground-state properties (dipole moments and ionization potentials) and the energies of various tautomeric forms of uracil, uracil monoanion, cytosine, and isocytosine. The results are shown to be consistent with most of the experimental data. Accuracy of various quantum–mechanical methods is discussed. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the geometry optimization on energy differences between various tautomers. Some qualitative conclusions of biological importance are drawn from these calculations.