Electron-Wavepacket Reaction Dynamics in Proton Transfer of Formamide

Abstract

We apply the semiclassical Ehrenfest theory, which provides electron wavepacket dynamics coupled to nuclear motion, to a study of water-assisted proton relay in formamide compared with a forced proton transfer in gas phase, both of which are associated with the tautomerization. We start with the enol (imidic acid) form HO-CH=NH and track its proton transfer process to the keto (amide) form O=CH-NH(2). Identifying the fact that this is indeed a "proton transfer process" rather than hydrogen-atom migration in terms of radical character on the proton, we show a collective quantum flux of electrons, which flows backward against the proton motion. This backward flux compensates the electrons tightly covering the proton, as represented in the Mulliken charge. The enol form formamide is one of the simplest species in the group O=CR(1)-NHR(2), which is a unit of polypeptide. In the gas phase, the nitrogen atom may have a pyramidal structure as in the ammonium molecule; therefore, the C-N bond may allow low barrier rotation along it. This rotation is strongly prohibited by the formation of the double bond C horizontal lineN induced by the proton transfer. Not only the dynamical process of proton transfer itself but also the electronic structures left behind are greatly affected by the presence of water molecule(s) and polar solvents. In discussing the relative stability of the formamide after the proton transfer, the following resonance structures are frequently mentioned, O(-)-CH=N(+)H(2) <--> O=CH-NH(2). Here we address the dynamical manifestation of the resonance structures in terms of our dynamical electron theory.