Fh. Beijer et al., STRONG DIMERIZATION OF UREIDOPYRIMIDONES VIA QUADRUPLE HYDROGEN-BONDING, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 120(27), 1998, pp. 6761-6769
6-Methyl-2-butylureidopyrimidone dimerizes via four hydrogen bonds in
the solid state as well as in CHCl3 solution via a donor-donor-accepto
r-acceptor (DDAA) array of hydrogen bonding sites in the 4[1H]-pyrimid
inone tautomer. An intramolecular hydrogen bond from the pyrimidine NH
group to the urea oxygen atom preorganizes the molecules for dimeriza
tion. The dimerization constant of the dimer in CHCl3 exceeds 10(6) M-
1. In CHCl3 containing DMSO, the dimer is in equilibrium with the mono
meric 6[1H]-pyrimidinone tautomer. In 6-phenyl-2-butylureidopyrimidone
, the 4[1H]-pyrimidinone tautomer coexists with the pyrimidin-4-ol for
m, which dimerizes with similar high dimerization constants via four h
ydrogen bonds in a DADA array. The latter tautomer predominates in der
ivatives with electronegative 6-substituents, like 6-nitrophenyl- and
6-trifluoromethyl-2-butylureidopyrimidone. Due to its simple preparati
on and high dimerization constant, the ureidopyrimidone functionality
is a useful building block far supramolecular chemistry.