A new Schiff base compound, 3-(5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)phenol (abbreviated as BHAP) was synthesized and characterized by ¹H- and ¹³C- nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopies. DFT/B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) calculations were undertaken in order to explore the conformational space of both the E- and Z- geometrical isomers of the enol-imine and keto-amine tautomers of the compound. Optimized geometries and relative energies were obtained, and it was shown that the most stable species is the E-enol-imine form, which may exist in four low-energy intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded forms (I, II, V, and VI) that are almost isoenergetic. These conformers were concluded to exist in the gas phase equilibrium with nearly equal populations. On the other hand, the infrared spectra of the compound isolated in a cryogenic argon matrix (10 K) are compatible with the presence in the matrix of only two of these conformers (conformers II and V), while conformers I and VI convert to these ones by quantum mechanical tunneling through the barrier associated with the rotation of the OH phenolic group around the C–O bond. The matrix isolation infrared spectrum was then assigned and interpreted with help of the DFT(B3LYP)/6-311++G(d,p) calculated infrared spectra for conformers II and V. In addition, natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis was performed on the most stable conformer of the experimentally relevant isomeric form (E-enol-imino conformer V) to shed light on details of its electronic structure. This investigation stresses the fundamental structural relevance of the O–H···N intramolecular H-bond in o-hydroxyaryl Schiff base compounds.

A novel Schiff base, (E)-4-acetyl-N-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylidene)aniline (abbreviated as ANHMA), was synthesized and characterized using infrared and ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR spectroscopies. Optical properties in different solvents were evaluated using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The compound is shown to exhibit both positive and negative solvatochromism with reversal occurring for solvents with E_T(30)~45 (e.g., DMSO). The solvatochromic behavior of the compound was found to be strongly dependent on the hydrogen bond abilities and polarizability of the solvent, the observed reversal in solvatochromism being explained by the change in the dominant solvent effects in non-polar and polar–aprotic solvents (H-bond acceptor ability of the solvent and polarizability) compared to polar–protic solvents (H-bond donor ability), according to the developed Catalán multiparametric solvatochromic model. In all freshly prepared solutions studied, the (E)-enol-imine tautomer of the compound was found to strongly predominate over the keto-amine tautomeric forms, the latter increasing their populations over time in the presence of H-bond donor/acceptor species. Irradiation of ANHMA with UV light (λ ≥ 311 nm) was also investigated in several solvents and shown to follow a general pattern, with the conversion of the (E)-enol-imine tautomer into the keto-amine forms in a solvent-mediated enol-imine/keto-amine tautomerism, and (Z)→(E) C=C isomerization between the keto-imine forms. The experimental results received support from an extensive series of calculations on the structure and UV-vis spectra of the relevant tautomeric/isomeric forms of the compound performed at the DFT(B3LYP)/6-311++G(d,p) level of approximation (including time-dependent DFT calculations and solvent consideration).