SITE OF PROTONATION OF CARBOXYLIC AND NON-CARBOXYLIC AMIDES IN THE GAS PHASE AND WATER

The site of protonation of several types of amide bases (carboxylic amides and thioamides, sulfenamides, sulfinamides, sulfonamides, nitrosamides, nitramides, cyanamides, phosphorous and phosphoric acid triamides) has been investigated through a combination of quantum chemical calculations and heteronuclear NMR measurements. Relative energies of tautomeric ions deriving from protonation at the various sites were determined both in the gas phase (by MP2 calculations) and in water (by the IPCM continuum solvation method). Relevant NMR properties of the involved heteronuclei (nuclear shielding and electric field gradient) were calculated at the GIAO-HF level, and compared with chemical shifts and relaxation rates experimentally measured in 14N, 17O and 31P spectra. It is shown that such a combination of theoretical and experimental tools allows a reliable prediction of spectral parameters and ultimately of the protonation site of amides. The reliability of common assumptions, like the comparison of spectral parameters of polyfunctional bases and monofunctional models, is also scrutinized and tested.