Summary.
Malonaldehyde rotamer geometries were optimized using ab initio calculations at the HF level with STO-3G** and 6-21G** basis sets. The most stable rotamer is the ω-shaped one with cyclic structure and intramolecular hydrogen bond. The most unstable rotamer is that obtained by rotation of the ω-rotamer around the CO single bond by 180° due to the loss of the additional stabilization contributed by the intramolecular H-bond. The energy barriers separating the different rotamers vary between 13 and 233 kJċmol−1. The structure of the transition states is non-planar with rotation angles varying between 72 and 98°.
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Received January 18, 1999. Accepted (revised) August 4, 1999
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Delchev, V., Nikolov, G. Ab initio Study of Malonaldehyde Rotamers. Monatshefte fuer Chemie 131, 107–115 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00010300
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00010300