The enol of isobutyric acid

Abstract

We present the gas-phase synthesis of 2-methyl-prop-1-ene-1,1-diol, an unreported higher energy tautomer of isobutyric acid. The enol was captured in an argon matrix at 3.5 K, characterized spectroscopically and by DFT computations. The enol rearranges likely photochemically to isobutyric acid and dimethylketene. We also identified propene, likely photochemically formed from dimethylketene.