Structural stability, C–N internal rotations and vibrational spectral analysis of non-planar phenylurea and phenylthiourea

The structural stability and C–N internal rotations of phenylurea and phenylthiourea were investigated by DFT-B3LYP and ab initio MP2 and MP4//MP2 calculations with 6-311G** and/or 6-311+G** basis sets. The complex multirotor internal rotations in phenylurea and phenylthiourea were investigated at the B3LYP/6-311+G** level of theory from which several clear minima were predicted in the calculated potential energy scans of both molecules. For phenylurea two minima that correspond to non-planar- (CNCC dihedral angle of about 45°) cis (CNCO dihedral angle is near 0°) and trans (CNCO dihedral angle is near 180°) structures were predicted to have real frequency. For phenylthiourea only the non-planar-trans structure was predicted to be the low energy minimum for the molecule. The vibrational frequencies of the lowest energy non-planar-trans conformer of each of the two molecules were computed at the B3LYP level and tentative vibrational assignments were provided on the basis of normal coordinate analysis and experimental infrared and Raman data.