Density functional theory study on molecular structure and vibrational IR spectra of isocytosine

Density functional theory with the combined Becke3-LYP exchange-correlation energy functional [DET(B3-LYP) method] using the 6-31G(d, p) basis set is applied to predict molecular parameters (geometries, rotational constants, dipole moments) and vibrational IR spectra (harmonic wavenumbers, absolute intensities) of six tautomers of the isocytosine molecule. The results are compared with the corresponding data calculated at the conventional ab initio Hartree-Fock (HF) level using the same basis set and with available experimental data. Calculations show that (a) three amino tautomers are slightly nonplanar species with, evidently, a distorted amino group, (b) the DFT (B3-LYP)/G-31G(d, p) method predicts better molecular parameters, than do the HF calculations, and (c) the DFT(B3-LYP)-calculated vibrational IR spectra of isocytosine agree well with the available recorded IR spectra, and they show marked improvement over the IR spectra predicted at the HF/6-31G(d, p) level. Tautomeric stabilities of isocytosine are discussed on the basis of computed electronic energies by the DFT(B3-LYP) and ab initio approaches [including the MP2 and MP4(SDQ) calculations of electronic energies] and predicted zero-point vibrational energies by DFT(B3-LYP) and HF methods. This relative energies at 0 K of the tautomeric forms of isocytosine predicted by both conventional ab initio and DET(B3-LYP) methods correlate well with the experimental data, showing the predominance of the aminohydroxy tautomer of isocytosine for an isolated molecule. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.