Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of the Structure of Acetoacetanilide

Abstract— Conformers and tautomers of acetoacetanilide have been studied by the DFT (B3LYP/6-311++G**) and IR spectroscopy methods. Geometry and energy parameters of acetoacetanilide dimers formed via intermolecular O–H∙∙∙O and N–H∙∙∙O hydrogen bonding have been obtained. Energy of the donor-acceptor interaction of lone electron pairs of nitrogen and oxygen atoms and the antibonding π*-orbitals of the C=O carbonyl group as well as double and single bonds in acetoacetanilide tautomers has been estimated using the NBO method.