A quantum chemical study of conformational and tautomeric preferences, intramolecular hydrogen bonding and π-electron delocalization on dinitrosomethane; in gas phase and water solution

HF, B3LYP, and MP2 methods with the standard basis set, 6-311++G(d,p), were employed to study various aspects of dinitrosomethane (DNM). These results are compared with the outcomes of G2, G2MP2, G3, and CBS-QB3 methods. In the present study, we first characterized the equilibrium conformations, especially global minima. In general, the nitroso-oxime (NO) tautomers of DNM are stabler than the dioxime and dinitroso ones. Furthermore, it was found that the stablest form of NO tautomer is global minima among the known local minima. Surprisingly, the chelated form of NO tautomer, with O–H···O intramolecular hydrogen bond (IMHB), is less stable than the global minimum. In spite of this instability, we comprehensively studied various aspects of IMHB to evaluate the effect of heteroatom’s (N). The results of open–close and related rotamer models predict that the heteroatoms weaken the hydrogen bond, whereas, the geometric, topologic, and natural bond orbital parameters emphasize on opposite conclusion. The HOMA of aromaticity aromaticity index clearly predicts that the π-electron delocalization of chelated form of NO tautomer is greater than the malonaldehyde. Finally, the solvent effects on the properties of DNM tautomers have been estimated by continuum (PCM, IPCM, and SCIPCM), discrete, and mixed models. Theoretical results clearly show that the potential energy surface of DNM, especially global minima, is strongly affected by the solvent.