tautomerism

American  

[taw-tom-uh-riz-uhm] / tɔˈtɒm əˌrɪz əm /

noun

Chemistry.

1. the ability of certain organic compounds to react in isomeric structures that differ from each other in the position of a hydrogen atom and a double bond.

---

tautomerism British  

/ tɔːˈtɒməˌrɪzəm, ˌtɔːtəˈmɛrɪk /

noun

1. the ability of certain chemical compounds to exist as a mixture of two interconvertible isomers in equilibrium See also keto-enol tautomerism

---

Other Word Forms

• nontautomeric adjective
• tautomeric adjective

Etymology

Origin of tautomerism

First recorded in 1880–85; tauto- + (iso)merism

Example Sentences

Although that experiment was essentially a proof of concept, Repp thinks his team can shrink the time resolution of THz-STM down to 10 fs, which could reveal even faster processes: electrons gliding across a molecule after it has absorbed light, or hydrogen ions hopping back and forth between different sites, a process called tautomerism that affects the reactivity of many biological molecules.

From Nature

By experiments conducted with the hydroxy- pyridines he believed that he had demonstrated a relation between tautomerism or changed space relations in these sort of substances and curative properties.

From Project Gutenberg