An improved procedure for the preparation of 2-amino-8-alkylpyrido-[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-ones (8-alkyl-N5-deazapterins)

We report an improved procedure for the preparation of 8-alkyl-N5-deazapterins which allows clean preparation of all ring-methyl substituted compounds, including 5- and 7-methyl substituted compounds. The procedure was also successfully applied to the preparation of N5-deazapterins with improved yield over previous reports. The uv/visible and pKa data confirm the predicted increased basicity of 8-alkyl-N5-deazapterins compared with the N5-deazapterin parents, and indicate that N5-deazapterins protonate on N8 and 8-alkyl-N5-deazapterins protonate on N3.     

Analysis of inter-ring coupling effects in N-heterobicyclic π-systems using a structural definition of aromaticity

A purely structural definition of aromaticity based on the average ring bond length and -bond order is proposed. The definition is illustrated for N-heterocycles by reference to theoretical STO-3G and 3-21G geometries and charges for some pteridine derivatives. The treatment focuses on the gross structural changes (i.e., ring size, overall degree of π-electron delocalization, and net ring charges), accompanying chemical changes, such as substitution, tautomerization, ring reduction, and deazination, as well as the structural interdependence of the two rings in a bicyclic ring system.     

NMR studies of bond orders in heteroaromatic systems

Fifty-seven values for the ortho-benzylic coupling constant ⁴J_{Me? C?C? H} (henceforth denoted as ⁴J_OB) were obtained for a variety of heteroaromatic systems. It was shown that a good correlation exists between ⁴J_OB when the methyl group is not α to the heteroatom and the SCF-MO bond order. This method can therefore be used as an experimental means of determining bond orders in heteroaromatic systems. An examination of bond alternation in thirteen heteroaromatic systems has given a measure of relative “degree of aromaticity” for a larger number of systems than previously reported by any single method.     

Comparison of linear-scaling semiempirical methods and combined quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical methods for enzymic reactions. II. An energy decomposition analysis

QM/MM methods have been developed as a computationally feasible solution to QM simulation of chemical processes, such as enzyme-catalyzed reactions, within a more approximate MM representation of the condensed-phase environment. However, there has been no independent method for checking the quality of this representation, especially for highly nonisotropic protein environments such as those surrounding enzyme active sites. Hence, the validity of QM/MM methods is largely untested. Here we use the possibility of performing all-QM calculations at the semiempirical PM3 level with a linear-scaling method (MOZYME) to assess the performance of a QM/MM method (PM3/AMBER94 force field). Using two model pathways for the hydride-ion transfer reaction of the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase studied previously (Titmuss et al., Chem Phys Lett 2000, 320, 169-176), we have analyzed the reaction energy contributions (QM, QM/MM, and MM) from the QM/MM results and compared them with analogous-region components calculated via an energy partitioning scheme implemented into MOZYME. This analysis further divided the MOZYME components into Coulomb, resonance and exchange energy terms. For the model in which the MM coordinates are kept fixed during the reaction, we find that the MOZYME and QM/MM total energy profiles agree very well, but that there are significant differences in the energy components. Most significantly there is a large change (approximately 16 kcal/mol) in the MOZYME MM component due to polarization of the MM region surrounding the active site, and which arises mostly from MM atoms close to (<10 A) the active-site QM region, which is not modelled explicitly by our QM/MM method. However, for the model where the MM coordinates are allowed to vary during the reaction, we find large differences in the MOZYME and QM/MM total energy profiles, with a discrepancy of 52 kcal/mol between the relative reaction (product-reactant) energies. This is largely due to a difference in the MM energies of 58 kcal/mol, of which we can attribute approximately 40 kcal/mol to geometry effects in the MM region and the remainder, as before, to MM region polarization. Contrary to the fixed-geometry model, there is no correlation of the MM energy changes with distance from the QM region, nor are they contributed by only a few residues. Overall, the results suggest that merely extending the size of the QM region in the QM/MM calculation is not a universal solution to the MOZYME- and QM/MM-method differences. They also suggest that attaching physical significance to MOZYME Coulomb, resonance and exchange components is problematic. Although we conclude that it would be possible to reparameterize the QM/MM force field to reproduce MOZYME energies, a better way to account for both the effects of the protein environment and known deficiencies in semiempirical methods would be to parameterize the force field based on data from DFT or ab initio QM linear-scaling calculations. Such a force field could be used efficiently in MD simulations to calculate free energies.     

Theoretical study of “protonated pyruvate”: A methylhydroxycarbene—carbon dioxide complex—implications for the decarboxylation of pyruvic acid

Two conformers of protonated pyruvate, CH₃C⁺(OH)COO, with the OH group either trans or cis to the methyl group and the carboxylate group in the C? C? C plane have been studied using the ab initio SCF/3-21G method, as well as by some semiempirical AM1 calculations. Both ab initio SCF and AM1 curves for the potential energy as a function of the C? COO distance exhibit a minimum corresponding to a complex of methylhydroxycarbene, CH₃COH, associated with carbon dioxide, but only the AM1 curves predict an inner minimum corresponding to a covalently bonded protonated pyruvate molecule with a C? COO distance of 1.6–1.7 Å. The two models also disagree on the dissociation pathway for pyruvic acid, with the AM1 calculations predicting formation of acetyl and HOCO radicals while the ab initio method predicts dissociation into methylhydroxycarbene and carbon dioxide following an initial intramolecular proton transfer. The weakly bound complexes of methylhydroxycarbene and carbon dioxide have been studied in some detail using ab initio SCF and MP2 methods in conjunction with 6-311G** basis sets, obtaining equilibrium geometries and vibrational frequencies. In addition, the lactone-type isomer of protonated pyruvate, which contains a C? C? O ring, was also studied. The conclusions of these calculations are consistent with those from earlier work using the smaller 3-21G basis set. The most stable complex is predicted to occur between trans-methylhydroxycarbene and carbon dioxide where substantial stabilization is provided by an OH ? OC hydrogen bond. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The value of the π-bond order–bond length relationship in geometry prediction and chemical bonding interpretation

The π-bond order–bond length relationship is reintroduced to the literature and extended to heteronuclear bonds by presenting graphs derived solely by theoretical methods. π-bond order and overlap population results for carbon–carbon, carbon–nitrogen, and carbon–oxygen bonds obtained from ab initio STO -3G calculations using theoretically-optimized geometries are reported for a series of pteridines and for a wide range of small organic molecules. The order–length correlation graphs are used in predicting the “intrinsic” single bond lengths for sp² – sp² and sp – sp hybridized C? C, C? N, and C? O bonds, and in evaluating the relative importance of hybridization, π-electron delocalization and bond polarization effects in causing bond shortening in conjugated and hyperconjugated molecules. The calculated value of the π-bond order for a given bond in a molecule is shown to be relatively insensitive to moderate geometry changes: Hence, a use for the correlation graphs in geometry prediction is suggested. Some results for the extended 4-21G basis set are also presented.     

Mechanistic aspects of biological redox reactions involving NADH 2: A combined semiempirical and ab initio study of hydride-ion transfer between the NADH analogue, 1-methyl-dihydronicotinamide,and folate and dihydrofolate analogue substrates of dihydrofolate reductase

As part of a study of factors controlling biological redox reactions of nicotinamide cofactors [nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) NAD(P)H], we have investigated the effect on a model reaction of the conformational state (cis or trans) of the carboxamide side chain, using quantum chemical methods. The reaction is that for the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase between the NADPH analogue, 1-methyl-dihydronicotinamide, and the protonated forms of the folate and dihydrofolate substrate analogues, pyrazine and dihydropyrazine. Some calculations on pterin and dihydropterin substrate analogues were also carried out in order to gauge the effects of inter-ring coupling. The influence of carboxamide side-chain conformation of nicotinamide on the energetics of the hydride-ion transfer, and on the structures of the transition states and stable intermolecular-interaction complexes, are examined as a function of the orientation of approach of the reactants. These approach geometries include those corresponding to the observed binding of cofactor and either substrate or inhibitor in the enzyme active site. Reactant, product, reactants-complex, and transition-state geometries were optimized at the semiempirical AM1 level, while ab initio SCF/STO-3G and SCF/3-21G single-point calculations were carried out at the AM1 optimized geometries for all species, as well as full geometry optimizations for isolated reactants and products. The results show that reactants-complex and transition-state energies are lower for the trans conformer of dihydronicotinamide than for the cis conformer, due to more favorable H-bonding or electrostatic interactions with the protonated substrate. Also, consideration of the structural parameters, including reaction coordinate bond lengths, ring geometries, and charge distributions, indicate that the trans transition states are more product-like than those for the cis. For the (trans) approaches corresponding to the enzymic orientation for substrate, the intermolecular interaction for the folate reaction lacks the stabilizing influence of the formal H-bond which is present for the dihydrofolate reaction, and consequently the reactants-complex and transition state are less stable.