Cyano-, nitro-, and alkoxycarbonyl-activated observable stable enols of carboxylic acid amides.

A search for the enol structures of several amides YY'CHCONHPh with Y,Y' = electron-withdrawing groups (EWGs) was conducted. When Y = CN, Y' = CO(2)Me the solid structure is that of the enol (8b) MeO(2)CC(CN)=C(OH)NHPh, whereas in solution the NMR spectrum indicate the presence of both the amide MeO(2)CCH(CN)CONHPh (8a) and 8b. When Y = NO(2), Y' = CO(2)Et the main compound in CDCl(3) is the amide, but <10% of enol(s), presumably EtO(2)CC(NO(2))=C(OH)NHPh (9b), are also present. When Y = COEt, Y' = CO(2)Me or Y = COMe, Y' = CO(2)Et (10 and 11) enolization in solution and of 11 also in the solid state occurs at the carbonyl rather than at the ester site. With Y = Y' = CN a rapid exchange between the amide (NC)(2)CHCONHPh (12a) and a tautomer, presumably the enol, take place in several solvents on the NMR time scale. With YY' = barbituric acid moiety the species in DMSO-d(6) is an enol of an amide although which CONH group enolizes is unknown. B3LYP/6-31G calculations showed that the enol (NC)(2)C=C(OH)NH(2) (13b) is more stable by DeltaG of 0.4 kcal/mol than (NC)(2)CHCONH(2) (13a) due to a combination of stabilization of 13b and destabilization of 13a and both are much more stable than the hydroxyimine and ketene imine tautomers. The effect of Y,Y' and the solvent on the relative stabilization of enols of amides is discussed.