Tautomerism in 5-methyltetrazole investigated by core-level photoelectron spectroscopy and ΔSCF calculations

DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORY STUDY OF THE PHOTOELECTRON SPECTRA OF 5-METHYLTETRAZOLE

The molecule 5-methyltetrazole (5MTZ) can exist in two taumeric forms. The vertical ionization energies (VIEs) of both valence and core electrons of both the tautomers are calculated with our established DFT procedures and compared with available experimental data. For the 2H-tautomer, the average absolute deviations (AADs) for the outer-valence VIEs and core-electron binding energies (CEBEs) from experiment are below 0.1 eV, while the AAD for the inner-valence VIEs is much larger at 0.4 eV. For the 1H-tautomer, no observed valence VIEs have been reported and the AAD for the calculated CEBEs is 0.2 eV. The assignment of the experimental core-electron ionization spectrum is confirmed, but our results suggest a slight modification of the assignment of the UV photoelectron spectrum of the 2H-tautomer.