Semiempirical Method MNDO for the Evaluation of the Effect of Different Substituents at the Imine-Carbon Position on the Acetaldemine-Vinylamine Tauotomerization and Comparison to the Substitution at α-Position

MNDO calculations have been employed to study the effect of some substituents of the acetaldemine-vinylamine tautomeric system at the imine-carbon position of CH3CXNH, where X = H, F, CN, NH2, NO2, BH2, CH3 and CF3. It is found that the substitutents F, NH2 and NO2 encourage the formation of the enamine tautomer. The substitutents CN, CH3, CF3 and BH2 encourage the formation of the imine tautomer. Isodesmic reactions, free energy change (ΔG), charge distribution and energy gap (Eg) between HOMO and LUMO were used to prove these findings. Resonance stabilization was a major factor in the determination of the most stable tautomer. These results were compared with previous work on the substitution at the σ -carbon position.