Rosa María Claramunt, María Dolores Santa María, Isabelle Forfar, Francisco Aguilar-Parrilla, María Minguet-Bonvehí, Oliver Klein, Hans-Heinrich Limbach, Concepción Foces-Foces, Antonio L. Llamas-Saiz and José Elguero
The influence of the 1-adamantyl group on the structure and the
proton transfer dynamics of N-unsubstituted pyrazoles has been
determined. Four compounds have been labelled with 15N and
studied by variable temperature 15N CP MAS NMR spectroscopy:
3(5)-(1-adamantyl)pyrazole 2, 4-(1-adamantyl)pyrazole 3,
3,5-dimethyl-4-(1-adamantyl)pyrazole 4 and 3,5-di(1-adamantyl)pyrazole
5. Compound 2 (a 1∶1 mixture of both tautomers) is a long chain of
hydrogen bonded molecules (‘catemer’) and as in most
catemers there is no proton transfer since it would imply an
‘infinite’ number of proton jumps. Compound 3, although also
a ‘catemer’, is possibly an exception to this rule, in that
it seems to show proton transfer. In the solid state, compounds 4 and 5
should be cyclic hydrogen-bonded structures, dimers or trimers, but the
activation energies for proton transfer, about 39 kJ
mol-1, are quite low compared with those of
3,5-dimethylpyrazole. It appears that the quasi-spherical shape of the
1-adamantyl substituent and its solid-state plasticity may play a role
in lowering these barriers. The crystal structure of 2 has been
determined by X-ray analysis. Individual molecules of 2 form chains
through
N–H · · ·
N hydrogen bonds (‘catemers’) very similar
to those already described for 4-(1-adamantyl)pyrazole and for pyrazole
itself; however, the packing of these catemers is different. Tautomers
2a and 2b are present in the crystal in a 1∶1 ratio, forming
alternating chains of hydrogen-bonded molecules
(2a · · ·
2b · · ·
2a · ·
· 2b · ·
·); the NH hydrogen atoms are linked to both nitrogen
positions (N1 and N2) and show a 1∶1 disorder.