Lactone enols are stable in the gas phase but highly unstable in solution
Frantisek Turecek1, Shetty Vivekananda, Martin Sadílek
1Department of Chemistry, Bagley Hall, Box 351700, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1700, USA. turecek@chem.washington.edu
Abstract:
2-Hydroxyoxol-2-ene (C(5)-1), the enol tautomer of gamma-butyrolactone, was generated in the gas phase as the first representative of the hitherto elusive class of lactone enols and shown by neutralization-reionization mass spectrometry to be remarkably stable as an isolated species. Ab initio calculations by QCISD(T)/6-311+G(3df,2p) provided the enthalpies of formation, proton affinities, and gas-phase basicities for gaseous lactone enols with four- (C(4)-1), five- (C(5)-1), and six-membered rings (C(6)-1). The acid-base properties of C(4)-C(6) lactones and enols and reference carboxylic acid enols CH(2)=C(OH)(2) (3) and CH(2)=C(OH)OCH(3) (4) were also calculated in aqueous solution. The C(4)-C(6) lactone enols show gas-phase proton affinities in the range of 933-944 kJ mol(-)(1) and acidities in the range of 1401-1458 kJ mol(-)(1). In aqueous solution, the lactone enols are 15-20 orders of magnitude more acidic than the corresponding lactones, with enol pK(a) values increasing from 5.6 (C(4)-1) to 14.5 (C(6)-1). Lactone enols are moderately weak bases in water with pK(BH) in the range of 3.9-8.1, whereas the lactones are extremely weak bases of pK(BH) in the range of -10.5 to -17.4. The acid-base properties of lactone enols point to their high reactivity in protic solvents and explain why no lactone enols have been detected thus far in solution studies.
Related Concept Videos
Reactivity of Enols
Reactivity of Enolate Ions
Regioselective Formation of Enolates
Types of Enols and Enolates
Stereochemical Effects of Enolization
Nitrosation of Enols


