Structures of the most stable conformers of derivatives of 5-vinylurac
il and fluorinated analogues have been determined using MM and semiemp
irical MNDO calculations. It has been found that the most stable confo
rmers of 5-trifluorovinyl and 5-E/Z-pentafluoropropenyl groups are alm
ost perpendicular to the plane of the uracil ring. These findings are
in good agreement with X-ray data obtained for 1,3,6-trimethyl-5-trifl
uorovinyluracil. The calculated energy barrier for rotation of exocycl
ic 5-substituents depends on the structure of the fluorinated fragment
s as well as on the nature of the substituent at the 6-position of ura
cil. A methyl group at the 6-position causes steric hindrance and sign
ificantly disturbs the rotation of fluorinated groups.