Construction of hydration shells for the tautomeric forms of heterocycles based on electrostatic potentials

A formalism for the determination of the most favored sites of monohydration and the orientation of water molecules around a solute by means of electrostatic potentials is suggested. The results of this method may serve as starting point for explicit supermolecule calculations. The hydration schemes determined in this way for the tautomeric forms of 2‐ and 4‐hydroxypyridine can be used as a basis for the evaluation of the displacement of the lactam–lactim equilibrium under the influence of the water environment.