Heterocyclic tautomerism: reassignment of two crystal structures of 2-amino-1,3-thiazolidin-4-one derivatives.

The structures of 5-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-[(pyridin-2-yl)amino]-1,3-thiazolidin-4-one, C10H11N3O2S, (I), and ethyl 4-[(4-oxo-1,3-thiazolidin-2-yl)amino]benzoate, C12H12N2O3S, (II), which are identical to the entries with refcodes GACXOZ [Vána et al. (2009). J. Heterocycl. Chem. 46, 635-639] and HEGLUC [Behbehani & Ibrahim (2012). Molecules, 17, 6362-6385], respectively, in the Cambridge Structural Database [Allen (2002). Acta Cryst. B58, 380-388], have been redetermined at 130 K. This structural study shows that both investigated compounds exist in their crystal structures as the tautomer with the carbonyl-imine group in the five-membered heterocyclic ring and an exocyclic amine N atom, rather than the previously reported tautomer with a secondary amide group and an exocyclic imine N atom. The physicochemical and spectroscopic data of the two investigated compounds are the same as those of GACXOZ and HEGLUC, respectively. In the thiazolidin-4-one system of (I), the S and chiral C atoms, along with the hydroxyethyl group, are disordered. The thiazolidin-4-one fragment takes up two alternative locations in the crystal structure, which allows the molecule to adopt R and S configurations. The occupancy factors of the disordered atoms are 0.883 (2) (for the R configuration) and 0.117 (2) (for the S configuration). In (I), the main factor that determines the crystal packing is a system of hydrogen bonds, involving both strong N-H...N and O-H...O and weak C-H...O hydrogen bonds, linking the molecules into a three-dimensional hydrogen-bond network. On the other hand, in (II), the molecules are linked via N-H...O hydrogen bonds into chains.