Proton-bound dimers of 1-methylcytosine and its derivatives: vibrational and NMR spectroscopy.

Vibrational spectroscopy and NMR demonstrate that the proton-bound dimer of 1-methylcytosine, 1, has an unsymmetrical structure at room temperature. In the gas phase, investigation of isolated homodimer 1 reveals five fundamental NH vibrations by IR Multiple Photon Dissociation (IRMPD) action spectroscopy. The NH···N stretching vibration between the two ring nitrogens exhibits a frequency of 1570 cm(-1), as confirmed by examination of the proton-bound homodimers of 5-fluoro-1-methycytosine, 2, and of 1,5-dimethylcytosine, 3, which display absorptions in the same region that disappear upon deuterium substitution. (13)C, and (15)N NMR of the solid iodide salt of 1 confirm the nonequivalence of the two rings in the anhydrous proton-bound homodimer at room temperature. IRMPD spectra of the three possible heterodimers also show NH···N stretches in the same domain, and at least one of the heterodimers, the proton-bound dimer of 1,5-dimethylcytosine with 1-methylcytosine, exhibits two bands suggestive of the presence of two tautomers close in energy.

Proton-bridge motions in amine conjugate acid ions having intramolecular hydrogen bonds to hydroxyl and amine groups.

Vibrational spectra of two gaseous cations having NH···O intramolecular ionic hydrogen bonds and of nine protonated di- and polyamines having NH···N internal proton bridges, recorded using IR Multiple Photon Dissociation (IRMPD) of mass-selected ions, are reported. The band positions of hydroxyl stretching frequencies do not shift when a protonated amine becomes hydrogen bonded to oxygen. In three protonated diamines, lower frequency bands (550-650 cm(-1)) disappear upon isotopic substitution, as well as several bands in the 1100-1350 cm(-1) region. By treating the internal proton bridge as a linear triatomic, theory assigns the lowest frequency bands to N-H···N asymmetric stretches. A 2-dimensional model, based on quantization on a surface fit to points calculated using a double hybrid functional B2-P3LYP/cc-pVTZ//B3LYP/6-31G**, predicts their positions accurately. In at least one case, the conjugate acid of 1,5-cis-bis(dimethylamino)cyclooctane, a N-H···N bend shows up in the domain predicted by DFT normal mode calculations, but in most other cases the observed bands have frequencies 20-25% lower than expected for bending vibrations. Protonated Me(2)NCH(2)CMe(2)CH(2)CH(2)CH(2)NMe(2) shows three well-resolved bands at 620, 1200, and 1320 cm(-1), of which the lowest can be assigned to the asymmetric stretch. Other ions observed include doubly protonated 1,2,4,5-(Me(2)NCH(2))(4)-benzene and 1,2,4-(Me(2)NCH(2))(3)-benzene-5-CH(2)OH. Apart from the aforementioned rigid ion derived from the alicyclic diamine, the other ions enjoy greater conformational mobility, and coupling to low-frequency C-C bond torsions may account for the shift of vibrations with N-H···N character to lower frequencies. Low-barrier hydrogen bonding (LBHB) accounts for the fact that N-H···N asymmetric stretching vibrations of near linear proton bridges occur at frequencies below 650 cm(-1).