A study of internal rotations and vibrational spectra of oxiranemethanol (glycidol)

The conformational stability and the C-O and O-H internal rotations in oxiranemethanol were investigated at the DFT-B3LYP/6-311G**, MP2/6-311G** and MP4(SDQ)/6-311G** levels of theory. Three minima were predicted in the CCOH potential energy scans of the molecule to have relative energies of about 2 kcal/mol or less and all were calculated to have real frequencies upon full optimization of structural parameters at the DFT and the MP2 levels of calculations. The Cg1 (H bond inner) conformation was predicted to be the lowest energy conformation for oxiranemethanol in excellent agreement with an earlier microwave study. The equilibrium mixture was calculated from Gibb's free-energy changes to be about 79% Cg1, 17% G1g and 3% Gg1 at the B3LYP/6-311G** level and about 87% Cg1, 11% G1g and 2% Gg1 at the MP2/6-311G** level for oxiranemethanol at 298.15 K. No conclusive evidence was obtained for the presence of high-energy form in the liquid phase of oxiranemethanol. The vibrational frequencies of oxiranemethanol in its three stable forms were computed at the B3LYP level and complete vibrational assignments were made for the lowest energy Cg1 form on basis of calculated and experimental data of the molecule.