Tautomeric equilibrium and hydrogen shifts in tetrazole and triazoles: Focal-point analysis and ab initio limit

High-level ab initio electronic structure calculations, including extrapolations to the complete basis set (CBS) limit, were performed, and highly precise relative energies of five-member N-heterocycles were determined. Nitrogen-containing heterocycles studied included tautomers of tetrazole (CH2N4) and triazoles (C2H3N3). Valence focal-point analysis of 1H-tetrazole, 2H-tetrazole, 5H-tetrazole, 1H-1,2,3-triazole, 2H-1,2,3-triazole, 1H-1,2,4-triazole, and 4H-1,2,4-triazole and a number of transition state (TS) calculations were performed, using energy values determined by CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ, MP3/aug-cc-pVQZ, and MP2/aug-cc-pV5Z. An accuracy of 0.10–0.25 kcal mol−1 (35–87 cm−1) was obtained for comparison of tautomer energy differences. Relative CCSD(T)/CBS energies of 2.07, 3.98, and 6.25 kcal mol−1 for 1H-tetrazole, 1H-1,2,3-triazole, and 4H-1,2,4-triazole, respectively, were calculated. Use of electron correlation methods resulted in markedly different convergence behaviors for triazole and tetrazole tautomers. Similarly, differences in convergence were observed for TSs with respect to corresponding minima structures. It was confirmed that the MP2 method predicts an acyclic structure for 5H-tetrazole. The same was not observed for the corresponding TS geometry. Comparison with density functional theory (B3LYP) and model chemistry methods (CBS-4M and CBS-QB3) is reported.