Supersonic jet studies of alkyl-substituted pyrazines and pyridines. Minimum energy conformations and torsional motion

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00039a044

Conformational reference for methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, and isoproply-substituted pyrazines and pyridines are determined by mass resolved excitation spectroscopy (MRES) and MOPAC 5/PM3 semiempirical calculations. The results of these studies suggest that the conformational behavior of alkyl-substituted pyrazines and pyridines is different from that of alkyl-subtituted benzenes. Based on the experimental and semiempirical theoretical results reported herein and published ab initio calculations, this difference can be attributed to a stabilizing interaction between an α-hydrogen atom of alkyl subsituted and the adjacent lone pair nonbonding electrons on the ring nitrogen atom.