A correction of the neglected tautomerism in the spectra prediction of o-methoxyaniline terminated monoazonaphthols: DFT and 15N NMR study

Abstract

In a paper of Zhu and co-workers (“Study of the electronic effect and quantitative spectra predictions of o-methoxyanilineterminated monoazonaphthols: a combined experimental and DFT study” by Guoxun Zhu, Yan Lin, Wenxian Zhou, Huacan Song and Zhengquan Li, RSC Advances, 2023, 13, 33736), the authors derived a protocol for the absorption spectra prediction is sulphonated azo naphthols assuming that they exist as single azo tautomers. However, as it is well known before and as shown by the available experimental data and the calculations, performed in this note, the studied dyes exist almost solely in hydrazone tautomeric form, which unavoidably affects the conclusions and linear relations made in the original paper. A detailed benchmarking on the spectra prediction, involving 39 density functionals (33 of them hybrid and 6 – pure) indicates that there is no a functional correctly predicting the absorption spectra of the tautomers in azo naphthols.