Substituent effects on the stability of the four most stable tautomers of adenine and purine

Substituent effects at the C2-, C8- and N-positions of adenine and purine in their four the most stable tautomers are studied by means of B97D3/aug-cc-pvdz computation applying substituents of varying electronic properties: NO(2), CN, CHO, Cl, F, H, Me, OMe, OH and NH(2). The substituent effect is characterized by the substituent effect stabilization energy (SESE) and substituent Hammett constant σ. For adenine, SESE is obtained with purine as the reference system. Additionally, for both adenine and purine, SESE characteristics are estimated with benzene, imidazole and amino-pyrimidine as reference systems, when possible, taking into account substitution in topologically equivalent positions. The role of a C6–NH(2) group in adenine in modifying the substitution effect is observed and discussed. Additionally, the proximity effect for some asymmetric substituents (e.g. CHO, OMe) is recognized and meticulously analyzed.