Question

Question: Draw the enol tautomer of (a) and the keto tautomer of (b).

a.

b.

Short answer

Answer

a. Enol tautomer

b. Keto tautomer

Step-by-step solution

Step-by-Step SolutionStep 1: Keto-enol tautomerism

Keto-enol tautomerism is the existence of chemical equilibrium among the keto form and enol form of a compound.

It is the reaction in which the isomerization or interconversion occurs between ketone and enol molecules in the presence of an acid or base. The enol and ketone are tautomers of each other.

Representation of keto-enol tautomerism

Simple keto-enol tautomerism can be represented as shown below:

Keto-enol tautomerism

Conversion of keto form into enol form and vice-versa

An enol tautomer will have an OH group attached to $\mathrm{C}=\mathrm{C}$, whereas the keto tautomer has$\mathrm{C}=\mathrm{O}$ and an additional bond.

The conversion to enol form from keto form can be represented as shown below:

Interconversion of keto-enol form

The interconversion of keto-enol form can be represented as shown below:

Keto-enol interconversion