Conformational analysis of morpholine studied using Raman spectroscopy and density functional theoretical calculations

Morpholine is a very interesting cyclic compound which is an ether as well as a secondary amine. The relative distribution of different conformations of morpholine depends on the medium. Using Raman spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, we found that, equatorial chair conformer is predominant in the pure liquid, but in aqueous solution, contribution from the axial conformer increases. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) studies in presence of silver nanoparticles showed change in relative intensities of different vibrational modes of morpholine. It was found that the axial chair conformer is preferentially adsorbed vertically through the N-Ag bond on the nanoparticle surface. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.