Direct-dynamics approach to catalytic effects: The tautomerization of 3-hydroxyisoquinoline as a test case

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Abstract
The mechanism of tautomerization of 3-hydroxyisoquinoline (3HIQ) in its first excited singlet state is studied theoretically for the isolated molecule and the 1:1 complexes with water (3 HIQ / H 2 O ) and acetic acid (3HIQ/AA). It is found that the proton transfer is a tunneling process which is strongly mediated by the motion of the heavier atoms involved in the hydrogen bond bridges. Therefore it is argued that quantitative assessment of the tremendous catalytic effect of complexation observed experimentally is possible only through the evaluation of multidimensional tunnelingrate constants. These are addressed using a direct dynamics approach based on the multidimensional instanton model. The potential energy surface, which governs the tautomerization dynamics, is generated from ab initio calculations at CIS/6-31G* and CASSCF(8,8)/6-31G* levels of theory. It is formulated in terms of the normal modes of the transition state and consists of 33, 57, and 72 degrees of freedom for 3HIQ, 3 HIQ / H 2 O , and 3HIQ/AA, respectively. The catalytic effect of complexation is discussed as an interplay between the static component, reflected in the change of geometries and relative stabilities of the three stationary points, and the dynamic one, resulting from the effects of coupling of the tunneling motion to the skeletal modes. Since the coupling parameters reported in the present study are typical for proton transfer along hydrogen bridges, the relative weight of these effects in the overall acceleration of the reaction will be larger in complexes with smaller reduction of the barrier height upon complexation.