NMR investigation and theoretical studies on the tautomerism of β,β′-tricarbonyl compounds

The behaviour on keto–enol tautomeric equilibration of ethyl 2-benzoyl-5-(2-furyl)-3-hydroxy-penta-2,4-dienoate (1) and ethyl 2-acetyl-3-hydroxy-5-phenyl-penta-2,4-dienoate (2) was investigated by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy in different solvents and BP86/TZVP density functional theory computations. The spectral assignment to enol and keto tautomers was performed with one- and two-dimensional techniques. The percentage of the keto form in the tautomeric equilibrium depends on solvents and rises by increasing solvent polarity. The enol–enol tautomerism is also discussed on the basis of the coupling constants 2JC,OH, 3JC,OH and 4JH,OH, respectively.