Tautomersareconstitutional isomersoforganic compoundsthat readily interconvert by achemical reactioncalledtautomerization.[1][2]This reaction commonly results in the formal migration of ahydrogenatomorproton, accompanied by a switch of asingle bondand adjacentdouble bond. The concept of tautomerizations is calledtautomerism.Because of the rapid interconversion, tautomers are generally considered to be the same chemical compound. Tautomerism is a special case ofstructural isomerismand can play an important role in non-canonicalbase pairinginDNAand especiallyRNAmolecules.
