Tautomer

Tautomers (/ˈtɔːtəmə/) are structural isomers of chemical compounds that readily interconvert. This reaction commonly results in the relocation of a proton. Tautomerism is for example relevant to the behavior of amino acids and nucleic acids, two of the fundamental building blocks of life. Tautomers (/ˈtɔːtəmə/) are structural isomers of chemical compounds that readily interconvert. This reaction commonly results in the relocation of a proton. Tautomerism is for example relevant to the behavior of amino acids and nucleic acids, two of the fundamental building blocks of life. The concept of tautomerizations is called tautomerism. The chemical reaction interconverting the two is called tautomerization. Care should be taken not to confuse tautomers with depictions of 'contributing structures' in chemical resonance. Tautomers are distinct chemical species and can be identified as such by their differing spectroscopic data, whereas resonance structures are merely convenient depictions and do not physically exist. Tautomerization is pervasive in organic chemistry. It is typically associated with polar molecules and ions containing functional groups that are at least weakly acidic. Most common tautomers exist in pairs, which means that the proton is located at one of two positions, and even more specifically the most common form involves a hydrogen changing places with a double bond: H−X−Y=Z ⇌ X=Y−Z−H. Common tautomeric pairs include: Prototropy is the most common form of tautomerism and refers to the relocation of a proton. Prototropic tautomerism may be considered a subset of acid-base behavior. Prototropic tautomers are sets of isomeric protonation states with the same empirical formula and total charge. Tautomerizations are catalyzed by: