Effects of Quantum Nuclear Delocalisation on NMR Parameters from Path Integral Molecular Dynamics

The influence of nuclear delocalisation on NMR chemical shifts in molecular organic solids is explored using path integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) and density functional theory calculations of shielding tensors. Nuclear quantum effects are shown to explain previously observed systematic deviations in correlations between calculated and experimental chemical shifts, with particularly large PIMD‐induced changes (up to 23 ppm) observed for carbon atoms in methyl groups. The PIMD approach also enables isotope substitution effects on chemical shifts and J couplings to be predicted in excellent agreement with experiment for both isolated molecules and molecular crystals. An approach based on convoluting calculated shielding or coupling surfaces with probability distributions of selected bond distances and valence angles obtained from PIMD simulations is used to calculate isotope effects.     

Towards Accurate Predictions of Proton NMR Spectroscopic Parameters in Molecular Solids

The factors contributing to the accuracy of quantum-chemical calculations for the prediction of proton NMR chemical shifts in molecular solids are systematically investigated. Proton chemical shifts of six solid amino acids with hydrogen atoms in various bonding environments (CH, CH₂, CH₃, OH, SH and NH₃) were determined experimentally using ultra-fast magic-angle spinning and proton-detected 2D NMR experiments. The standard DFT method commonly used for the calculations of NMR parameters of solids is shown to provide chemical shifts that deviate from experiment by up to 1.5 ppm. The effects of the computational level (hybrid DFT functional, coupled-cluster calculation, inclusion of relativistic spin-orbit coupling) are thoroughly discussed. The effect of molecular dynamics and nuclear quantum effects are investigated using path-integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) simulations. It is demonstrated that the accuracy of the calculated proton chemical shifts is significantly better when these effects are included in the calculations.     

NMR solvent shifts of adenine in aqueous solution from hybrid QM/MM molecular dynamics simulations

We present first principles calculations of the NMR solvent shift of adenine in aqueous solution. The calculations are based on snapshots sampled from a molecular dynamics simulation, which were obtained via a hybrid quantum-mechanical/mechanical modeling approach, using an all-atom force field (TIP3P). We find that the solvation via the strongly fluctuating hydrogen bond network of water leads to nontrivial changes in the NMR spectra of the solutes regarding the ordering of the resonance lines. Although there are still sizable deviations from experiment, the overall agreement is satisfactory for the 1H and 15N NMR shifts. Our work is another step toward a realistic first-principles prediction of NMR chemical shifts in complex chemical environments.     

Crystallographic and Dynamic Aspects of Solid‐State NMR Calibration Compounds: Towards ab Initio NMR Crystallography

The excellent results of dispersion‐corrected density functional theory (DFT‐D) calculations for static systems have been well established over the past decade. The introduction of dynamics into DFT‐D calculations is a target, especially for the field of molecular NMR crystallography. Four ¹³C ss‐NMR calibration compounds are investigated by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction, molecular dynamics and DFT‐D calculations. The crystal structure of 3‐methylglutaric acid is reported. The rotator phases of adamantane and hexamethylbenzene at room temperature are successfully reproduced in the molecular dynamics simulations. The calculated ¹³C chemical shifts of these compounds are in excellent agreement with experiment, with a root‐mean‐square deviation of 2.0 ppm. It is confirmed that a combination of classical molecular dynamics and DFT‐D chemical shift calculation improves the accuracy of calculated chemical shifts.     

Thermal and solvent effects on the NMR and UV parameters of some bioreductive drugs

15N NMR chemical shifts and n-->pi* electronic transition energy for metronidazole (1) has been calculated and compared with experimental data. A detailed computational study of 1 is presented, with special attention to the performance of various theoretical methods for reproducing spectroscopic parameters in solution. The most sophisticated approach involves density functional based on the Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations of 1 in aqueous solution (BP86 level) and averaging chemical shifts and deltaE(n-->pi*) over snapshots from the trajectory. In the NMR and UV calculations for these snapshots (performed at the B3LYP level), a small number of discrete water molecules are retained, and the remaining bulk solution effects are included via a polarizable continuum model (PCM). A good agreement with experiment is also obtained using static geometry optimization and NMR computation of pristine 1 employing a PCM approach. Further theoretical predictions are also reported for 17O NMR and deltaE(n-->pi*) of three hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, which suggest that it is essential to incorporate the dynamics and solvent effects for NMR and UV calculations in the condensed phase.     

13C NMR chemical shifts of carbonyl groups in substituted benzaldehydes and acetophenones: substituent chemical shift increments

13C NMR Substituent chemical shift (SCS) increments have been determined for the carbonyl carbon of a variety of substituted benzaldehydes and acetophenones. The 13C NMR chemical shift of the carbonyl carbon can be predicted for many di- and trisubstituted benzaldehydes and acetophenones through simple additivity of the SCS increments. The magnitude and sign of the SCS increments have been explored using Hartree-Fock 6-31G* calculations to determine the natural atomic charges of the carbonyl carbon. When a substituent capable of intermolecular hydrogen bonding is present, deviations from additivity on the order of 2 ppm are observed in dilution experiments; deviations of up to 6 ppm can result from intramolecular hydrogen bonding.     

Chemical shifts in nucleic acids studied by density functional theory calculations and comparison with experiment

NMR chemical shifts are highly sensitive probes of local molecular conformation and environment and form an important source of structural information. In this study, the relationship between the NMR chemical shifts of nucleic acids and the glycosidic torsion angle, χ, has been investigated for the two commonly occurring sugar conformations. We have calculated by means of DFT the chemical shifts of all atoms in the eight DNA and RNA mono-nucleosides as a function of these two variables. From the DFT calculations, structures and potential energy surfaces were determined by using constrained geometry optimizations at the BP86/TZ2P level of theory. The NMR parameters were subsequently calculated by single-point calculations at the SAOP/TZ2P level of theory. Comparison of the (1) H and (13) C?NMR shifts calculated for the mono-nucleosides with the shifts determined by NMR spectroscopy for nucleic acids demonstrates that the theoretical shifts are valuable for the characterization of nucleic acid conformation. For example, a clear distinction can be made between χ angles in the anti and syn domains. Furthermore, a quantitative determination of the χ angle in the syn domain is possible, in particular when (13) C and (1) H chemical shift data are combined. The approximate linear dependence of the C1' shift on the χ angle in the anti domain provides a good estimate of the angle in this region. It is also possible to derive the sugar conformation from the chemical shift information. The DFT calculations reported herein were performed on mono-nucleosides, but examples are also provided to estimate intramolecularly induced shifts as a result of hydrogen bonding, polarization effects, or ring-current effects.     

Structure validation of natural products by quantum-mechanical GIAO calculations of 13C NMR chemical shifts

Geometry optimization and GIAO (gauge including atomic orbitals) (13)C NMR chemical shift calculations at Hartree-Fock level, using the 6-31G(d) basis set, are proposed as a tool to be applied in the structural characterization of new organic compounds, thus providing useful support in the interpretation of experimental NMR data. Parameters related to linear correlation plots of computed versus experimental (13)C NMR chemical shifts for fourteen low-polar natural products, containing 10-20 carbon atoms, were employed to assess the reliability of the proposed structures. A comparison with the hybrid B3LYP method was carried out to evaluate electron correlation contributions to the calculation of (13)C NMR chemical shifts and, eventually, to extend the applicability of such computational methods to the interpretation of NMR spectra in apolar solutions. The method was tested by studying three examples of revised structure assignments, analyzing how the theoretical (13)C chemical shifts of both correct and incorrect structures matched the experimental data.     

First principles and experimental 1H NMR signatures of solvated ions: The case of HCl(aq).

A combined experimental and ab initio study is presented of the 1H NMR chemical shift distribution of aqueous hydrogen chloride solution as a function of acid concentration, based on Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations and fully periodic NMR chemical-shift calculations. The agreement of computed and experimental spectra is very good. From first-principles calculations, we can show that the individual contributions of Eigen and Zundel ions, regular water molecules, and the chlorine solvation shell to the NMR line are very distinct and almost independent of the acid concentration. From the computed instantaneous NMR distributions, it is further possible to characterize the average variation in hydrogen-bond strength of the different complexes.     

Aromatic C-H...O interactions in a series of bindone analogues. NMR and quantum mechanical study

The aromatic C-H...O hydrogen bonding within the series of the structurally relative indenone derivatives has been studied. The presence of the hydrogen bonds is corroborated by the large low-field chemical shifts of the protons involved in the hydrogen bond observed experimentally and reproduced by quantum mechanical calculations. Further confirmation is provided by analysis of the orbital overlap coefficients, (13)C NMR chemical shifts, and one-bond spin-spin coupling constants J((13)C-(1)H). The relationship between molecular geometry and (1)H NMR chemical shifts of involved protons has a complex nature, but the C-H...O distance is the principal factor.     

An investigation of lanthanum coordination compounds by using solid-state 139La NMR spectroscopy and relativistic density functional theory

Lanthanum-139 NMR spectra of stationary samples of several solid La(III) coordination compounds have been obtained at applied magnetic fields of 11.75 and 17.60 T. The breadth and shape of the 139La NMR spectra of the central transition are dominated by the interaction between the 139La nuclear quadrupole moment and the electric field gradient (EFG) at that nucleus; however, the influence of chemical-shift anisotropy on the NMR spectra is non-negligible for the majority of the compounds investigated. Analysis of the experimental NMR spectra reveals that the 139La quadrupolar coupling constants (C(Q)) range from 10.0 to 35.6 MHz, the spans of the chemical-shift tensor (Omega) range from 50 to 260 ppm, and the isotropic chemical shifts (delta(iso)) range from -80 to 178 ppm. In general, there is a correlation between the magnitudes of C(Q) and Omega, and delta(iso) is shown to depend on the La coordination number. Magnetic-shielding tensors, calculated by using relativistic zeroth-order regular approximation density functional theory (ZORA-DFT) and incorporating scalar only or scalar plus spin-orbit relativistic effects, qualitatively reproduce the experimental chemical-shift tensors. In general, the inclusion of spin-orbit coupling yields results that are in better agreement with those from the experiment. The magnetic-shielding calculations and experimentally determined Euler angles can be used to predict the orientation of the chemical-shift and EFG tensors in the molecular frame. This study demonstrates that solid-state 139La NMR spectroscopy is a useful characterization method and can provide insight into the molecular structure of lanthanum coordination compounds.     

Structure of neutral molecules and monoanions of selected oxopurines in aqueous solutions as studied by NMR spectroscopy and theoretical calculations

A methodology enabling investigation of a multicomponent tautomeric and acid-base equilibria by (13)C NMR spectroscopy supported by theoretical calculations has been proposed. The effectiveness of this method has been illustrated in a study of 2-oxopurine, 6-oxopurine (hypoxanthine), 8-oxopurine, and 2,6-dioxopurine (xanthine) in neutral and alkaline aqueous solutions. For each compound a series of (13)C NMR spectra were recorded at pH ranges in which neutral molecules, monoanions and/or dianions occurred in dynamic equilibrium. The carbon chemical shifts for these three forms of the investigated compounds were retrieved from the analysis of pH-dependence of the measured, dynamically averaged values of these parameters. The structures of several stable tautomers of the neutral and monoanionic oxopurine forms were predicted from theoretical calculations and nuclear magnetic shielding constants for (13)C nuclei in these tautomers were calculated. At both calculation steps (molecular geometry optimization and calculation of NMR parameters) the PBE1PBE/6-311++G(2d,p) level of theory was used. The populations of the most stable tautomers were determined from the experimental data analysis exploiting the fact that they were population-weighted averages of the chemical shifts of particular tautomers. It has been shown that only the oxo forms of the investigated oxopurines are present in aqueous solutions and that the determined populations in most cases remain in a qualitative agreement with the calculated free energies of the appropriate tautomers. The obtained results are in general agreement with other literature reports on oxopurine tautomerism and confirm importance of the hydration phenomena for the investigated systems. The data analysis has shown that the best compliance between theory and experiment is obtained when the hydration phenomenon is modeled by discrete hydration augmented by PCM (polarizable continuum solvation model).     

Determination of the relative stereochemistry of flexible organic compounds by Ab initio methods: conformational analysis and Boltzmann-averaged GIAO 13C NMR chemical shifts

Ab initio calculations at the Hartree-Fock level with full-geometry optimization using the 6-31G(d) basis set, and GIAO (gauge including atomic orbitals) (13)C NMR chemical shifts, are presented here as a support in the study of the stereochemistry of low-polar organic compounds having an open-chain structure. Four linear stereoisomers, fragments of a natural product previously characterized by experimental (13)C NMR spectra, which possesses three stereogenic centers, 11 carbon atoms, and 38 atoms in total, were considered. Conformational searches, by empirical force-field molecular dynamics, pointed out the existence of 8-13 relevant conformers per stereoisomer. Thermochemical calculations at the ab initio level in the harmonic approximation of the vibrational modes, allowed the evaluation, at 298.15 K, of the standard Gibbs free energy of the conformers. The (13)C NMR chemical shift of a given carbon atom in each stereoisomer was considered as the average chemical shift value of the same atom in the different conformers. The averages were obtained by the Boltzmann distribution, using the relative standard free energies as weighting factors. Computed parameters related to linear correlation plots of experimental (13)C chemical shifts versus the corresponding computed average data allowed us to distinguish among the four stereoisomers.     

Stereoelectronic effects on 1H nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shifts in methoxybenzenes

Investigation of all O-methyl ethers of 1,2,3-benzenetriol and 4-methyl-1,2,3-benzenetriol (3-16) by 1H NMR spectroscopy and density-functional calculations disclosed practically useful conformational effects on 1H NMR chemical shifts in the aromatic ring. While the conversion of phenol (2) to anisole (1) causes only small positive changes of 1H NMR chemical shifts (Delta delta < 0.08 ppm) that decrease in the order Hortho > Hmeta > Hpara, the experimental O-methylation induced shifts in ortho-disubstituted phenols are largest for Hpara, Delta delta equals; 0.19 +/- 0.02 ppm (n = 11). The differences are due to different conformational behavior of the OH and OCH3 groups; while the ortho-disubstituted OH group remains planar in polyphenols due to hydrogen bonding and conjugative stabilization, the steric congestion in ortho-disubstituted anisoles outweighs the conjugative effects and forces the Ar-OCH3 torsion out of the ring plane, resulting in large stereoelectronic effects on the chemical shift of Hpara. Conformational searches and geometry optimizations for 3-16 at the B3LYP/6-31G** level, followed by B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,2p) calculations for all low-energy conformers, gave excellent correlation between computed and observed 1H NMR chemical shifts, including agreement between computed and observed chemical shift changes caused by O-methylation. The observed regularities can aid structure elucidation of partly O-methylated polyphenols, including many natural products and drugs, and are useful in connection with chemical shift predictions by desktop computer programs.     

Benzoxazine oligomers: evidence for a helical structure from solid-state NMR spectroscopy and DFT-based dynamics and chemical shift calculations

A combination of molecular modeling, DFT calculations, and advanced solid-state NMR experiments is used to elucidate the supramolecular structure of a series of benzoxazine oligomers. Intramolecular hydrogen bonds are characterized and identified as the driving forces for ring-shape and helical conformations of trimeric and tetrameric units. In fast MAS (1)H NMR spectra, the resonances of the protons forming the hydrogen bonds can be assigned and used for validating and refining the structure by means of DFT-based geometry optimizations and (1)H chemical-shift calculations. Also supporting these proposed structures are homonuclear (1)H[bond](1)H double-quantum NMR spectra, which identify the local proton-proton proximities in each material. Additionally, quantitative (15)N[bond](1)H distance measurements obtained by analysis of dipolar spinning sideband patterns confirm the optimized geometry of the tetramer. These results clearly support the predicted helical geometry of the benzoxazine polymer. This geometry, in which the N...H...O and O...H...O hydrogen bonds are protected on the inside of the helix, can account for many of the exemplary chemical properties of the polybenzoxazine materials. The combination of advanced experimental solid-state NMR spectroscopy with computational geometry optimizations, total energy, and NMR spectra calculations is a powerful tool for structural analysis. Its results provide significantly more confidence than the individual measurements or calculations alone, in particular, because the microscopic structure of many disordered systems cannot be elucidated by means of conventional methods due to lack of long-range order.     

Density functional calculations of 19F and 235U NMR chemical shifts in uranium (VI) chloride fluorides UF6−nCln: Influence of the relativistic approximation and role of the exchange‐correlation functional

Relativistic density functional theory (DFT) has been applied to the calculation of the ¹⁹F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shifts of the title compounds. It is shown that, while large‐core effective core potentials (ECP) fail completely for the calculation of ligand NMR chemical shifts in uranium compounds, small‐core ECPs are a valid relativistic method for this purpose. In an earlier study of the same systems, certain differences between theory and experiment had been observed, for instance, in the relative chemical shift of the A₄ and X sites in UF₅Cl. The reason for these deviations has been investigated further in the current paper. By comparing different relativistic methods, it is shown that the relativistic approximation is not responsible for these deviations. The role of the approximation to the exchange‐correlation (XC) functional of DFT has been probed, and generalized gradient approximations (GGA) as well as hybrid DFT methods have been investigated. None of these methods corrects the mentioned errors. It is argued that the neglect of environmental factors (solvent effects) remains as a possible error source, although the approximate XC functional appears to be the more likely cause of the problem. ²³⁵U NMR shieldings and chemical shifts have been calculated, and the trends predicted earlier have been confirmed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005     

Probing structure in invisible protein states with anisotropic NMR chemical shifts

A general method for obtaining quantitative structural information on invisible, excited protein states by solution-based NMR spectroscopy is presented. The approach exploits relaxation dispersion techniques in which changes in chemical shifts between ground and excited states are monitored in solutions with and without small amounts of residual molecular alignment. This allows the calculation of differences in chemical shifts induced by alignment that can be directly related to molecular structure, in cases where the orientation and magnitude of the chemical-shift tensor are well defined. An example using carbonyl chemical shifts as probes of a protein-ligand binding reaction is presented to illustrate and validate the method.     

13C and 15N NMR spectra of high‐energy polyazidocyanopyridines

¹³C and ¹⁵N NMR spectra of high‐energy 2,4,6‐triazidopyridine‐3,5‐dicarbonitrile, 2,3,5,6‐tetraazidopyridine‐4‐carbonitrile and 3,4,5,6‐tetraazidopyridine‐2‐carbonitrile are reported. The assignment of signals in the spectra was performed on the basis of density functional theory calculations. The molecular geometries were optimized using the M06‐2X functional with the 6‐311+G(d,p) basis set. The magnetic shielding tensors were calculated by the gauge‐independent atomic orbital method with the Tao–Perdew–Staroverov–Scuseria hybrid functional known as TPSSh. In all the calculations, a polarizable continuum model was used to simulate solvent effects. This approach provided accurate predictions of the ¹³C and ¹⁵N chemical shifts for all the three compounds despite complications arising due to non‐coplanar arrangement of the azido groups in the molecules. It was found that the ¹⁵N chemical shifts of the N_α atoms in the azido groups of 2,4,6‐triazidopyridines correlate with the ¹³C chemical shifts of the carbon atoms attached to these azido groups. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.