ИСТИНА

A series of 2-hetarylsubstituted 1-hydroxyimidazoles was synthesized by condensation of starting aldehydes with corresponding oximes and ammonium acetate in glacial acetic acid at room temperature. It is known that 1-hydroxyimidazoles may exist in forms of two prototropic tautomers. By means of 1H NMR and IR spectroscopies it was demonstrated that electron-withdrawing groups in position 2 of imidazole favored the existence of the heterocycle in the N-oxide tautomeric form while presence of electron-donating substituent in position 2 resulted in the predominating N-hydroxytautomer.