The tautomeric migration of a hydrogen atom from an adjacent carbon atom to a carbonyl group of a keto compound to produce the enol form of the compound; the reverse process of hydrogen atom migration also occurs....IS CALLED TAUTAMERISM
ENOL..An organic compound containing a hydroxyl group bonded to a carbon atom, which in turn is doubly bonded to another carbon atom.
Existence of two or more chemical
compounds that have the same chemical composition but different structures (
isomers) and that convert easily from one to another. A major class of tautomeric reactions involves exchange of a
hydrogen atom between two other atoms in the same molecule, in both cases forming a
covalent bond. For example, in
keto-
enol tautomerism, the hydrogen atom bonded to the carbon atom in a carbonyl (
keto) group (
-CH
-C
=O;
see functional group) moves to the oxygen atom, making it an
enol group (
-C
=C
-OH). The
keto form predominates in many
aldehydes and
ketones, the
enol form in
phenols.
Sugars (e.g.,
glucose) exhibit
tautomerism between open (chain) forms and closed (ring) forms.

