Detection of relative dimer and rotamer concentrations of diacetamide in different solvents by FT-IR spectroscopy and DFT calculations

Abstract

The relative rotamer, dimer and tautomer concentrations of diacetamide have been studied by means of infrared spectroscopy, with the recorded spectra being analyzed employing results from density functional theory calculations. It is observed that the cis-trans monomeric form of diacetamide (1) is found to be the most stable isomer in all studied solvents, with trans-trans diacetamide (2) being found to be 20% of total diacetamide in methanol. While the dimer form of diacetamide (3) is present only in carbon-tetrachloride (about 34% of the total), its tautomeric forms (4, 5) are not favorable in any of the studied solvents.