Theoretical Study of Molecular Structure, Tautomerism, and Geometrical Isomerism of N-Methyl- and N-Phenyl-Substituted Cyclic Imidazolines, Oxazolines, and Thiazolines

The geometries of various tautomers and isomers of 2-methylamino-2-imidazoline, 2-methylamino-2oxazoline, 2-methylamino-2-thiazoline, 2-phenylamino-2-imidazoline, 2-phenylamino-2-oxazoline, and 2-phenylamino-2-thiazoline have been studied using the Becke3LYP/6–31+G(d,p) DFT, ONIOM(Becke3LYP/6–31+G(d,p):HF/3–21G∗) and ONIOM(Becke3LYP/6–31+G(d,p):AM1) methods. The optimized geometries indicate that these molecules show a distinctly nonplanar configuration of the cyclic moieties. In the gas phase, the amino tautomers (with exception of 2-phenylamino-2-imidazoline) are computed to be more stable than the imino tautomers. Of the two possible (E and Z ) isomers of methyl and phenyl derivatives of imino-oxazolidine and imino-thiazolidine species, the (Z ) isomers have the lowest energy. The iminozation free energies in the gas phase were found to be 5 – 15 kJ/mol. Absolute values of KT depend strongly on the accuracy of the method used for calculation of free energy. Solvation (using the MD simulations) causes, in most cases, a shift in tautomeric preference toward the imino species.