Computational study of the keto/enol equilibrium and enol-a/enol-b equilibrium of trifluormethyl-beta-diketones( R1COCH2COR2) with R2 = -CF3 using semi-empirical method AM1

CHED 1378

Magdalisse M. Coronado, magdalisse26@hotmail.com1, Juan G Estevez, dawn@coqui.net1, Tesha M Pacheco, tmpm924@gmail.com2, Vanessa M Ramos, Dawn@coqui.net3, and Sonia M Velez, s_mvj@hotmail.com3. (1) Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus, HC-01 Box 4046, Juana Diaz, PR 00795, (2) Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus, Urb. Costa Azul, Calle 11 F-5, Guayama, PR 00784, (3) Department of Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus, # 205 Ave. Antonio R. Barcelo, Cayey, PR 00736
There has been an increase in experiments of compounds that contain fluorine. Recently, J.C. Sloop has developed trifluormethyl-a-diketones but no computational method has been used to study these compounds. We have initiated a computational study of the keto/enol equilibrium in 16 species of a–diketones with the group R2= -CF3. We have calculated the keto and enol forms a, (R1COH=CHCOR2), b (R1COCH=COHR2) using the Semiempirical Method AM1 that is included in the HyperChem computational package. The chemical species are assumed in gas phase. We calculated the energies with Geometry Optimization. The results confirm the experimental data that the enol form predominates. The differences in energies for the keto/enol equilibrium are between -2.006 Kcal/mol and + 0.593 Kcal/mol for the chemical species established in the title.
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Physical Chemistry
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, March 26, 2007 Hyatt Regency Chicago -- Riverside Center, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 233rd ACS National Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007