The pKa theoretical estimation of C―H,N―H,O―H and S―H acids in dimethylsulfoxide solution

A scheme for the pK_a estimation of organic acids in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) solution based on quantum chemical calculations is proposed. The procedure of pK_a calculation requires several steps. The first is the calculation of the gas phase acidity of the compound. The G3MP2B3, G4MP2 as well as CBS‐QB3 composite methods made it possible to estimate values of gas phase acidities of an extensive set of structures with a high confidence level (standard deviations equal to 1.15, 1.13 and 1.29 kcal mol^?1, respectively; the test set included 91 compounds). The second step is the computation of the solvation correction with the integral equation formalism version of polarizable continuum model (IEF‐PCM)–B3LYP/6‐311+G(d,p) approximation. Within the bounds of our approach, the medium properties were covered only by the PCM model, i.e. the proposed procedure neglects specific interactions between DMSO and the solute. It was determined that the approach to pK_a estimation mentioned above is the most balanced in terms of accuracy, resource intensity and computation time cost. In the third step, the error of the pK_a calculation was decreased by correlation allowances. Correlation allowances were determined for each acid class (62 С―Н, 55 N―Н, 24 O―Н and 5 S―Н acids) in the range of 50 units in terms of logarithmic scale using the test set including 146 compounds. Seven O―H acids showing the ability to form cyclic dimers were separated into a discrete group. The proposed methodology was applied to the estimation of pK_a for trans‐ and cis‐dimethyl‐4,5‐dihydro‐3H‐pyrazol‐3,5‐dicarboxylates as well as for 5‐fluorouracil subject to competitive dissociation, the latter by N1―H or N3―H bonds. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.