Hydrogen‐bonded complexes of nicotine with simple alcohols

Ab initio and density functional theory studies have been performed on the hydrogen‐bonded complexes of neutral and protonated nicotine with ethanol, methanol, and trifluromethanol to explore their relative stability in a systematic way. Among all the hydrogen‐bonded nicotine complexes considered here, protonated forms in nicotine–ethanol and nicotine–methanol, and neutral form in nicotine–trifluromethanol complexes have been found to be the most stable. In the former two complexes, the proton attached to the pyrrolidine nitrogen acts as a strong hydrogen bond donor, whereas the pyrrolidine nitrogen atom acts as a hydrogen bond acceptor in the latter case. Neutral complex of nicotine with trifluromethanol has been found to possess a very short hydrogen bond (1.57 Å) and basis set superposition error corrected hydrogen bond energy value of 19 kcal/mol. The nature of the various hydrogen bonds formed has been investigated through topological aspects using Bader's atoms in molecules theory. From the calculated topological results, excellent linear correlation is shown to exist among the hydrogen bond length, electron density, and its Laplacian at the bond critical points for all the complexes considered. The natural bond orbital analysis has been carried out to investigate the charge transfer in the nicotine alcohol complexes. In contrast to the blue shifting behavior that is generally exhibited by other C? H···O hydrogen bonds involving sp³ carbon atom, the C? H···O hydrogen bond in the protonated nicotine–ethanol and methanol complexes has been found to be proper with red shifting in nature. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Optical absorption and emission properties of fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, and their derivatives. A DFT study

Fluoranthene and benzo[k]fluoranthene-based oligoarenes are good candidates for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this work, the electronic structure and optical properties of fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, and their derivatives have been studied using quantum chemical methods. The ground-state structures were optimized using the density functional theory (DFT) methods. The lowest singlet excited state was optimized using time-dependent density functional theory (TD-B3LYP) and configuration interaction singles (CIS) methods. On the basis of ground- and excited-state geometries, the absorption and emission spectra have been calculated using the TD-DFT method with a variety of exchange-correlation functionals. All the calculations were carried out in chloroform medium. The results show that the absorption and emission spectra calculated using the B3LYP functional is in good agreement with the available experimental results. Unlikely, the meta hybrid functionals such as M06HF and M062X underestimate the absorption and emission spectra of all the studied molecules. The calculated absorption and emission wavelength are more or less basis set independent. It has been observed that the substitution of an aromatic ring significantly alters the absorption and emission spectra.     

Reaction mechanism of cysteine proteases model compound HSH with diketone inhibitor PhCOCOCH3−nXn, (X = F,Cl, n = 0, 1, 2)

Caspases are a family of cysteine proteases, which play a crucial role in apoptosis and inflammation. The reaction mechanisms involving the cysteine proteases model compound HSH with diketone (PhCOCOCH_3‐nX_n, (X = F, Cl, n = 0, 1, 2) substrate have been studied using B3LYP/6‐311+G* level of density functional theory method. The harmonic vibrational frequencies were calculated at the same level of theory used for the characterization of stationary points and zero‐point vibrational energy corrections. The condensed Fukui functions have been calculated to find the favorable reactive site for the electrophilic (f), nucleophilic (f), and radical (f) attacks in the reactants. The transition states were connected with reactants, intermediate, and products, and the minimum energy paths have been confirmed through intrinsic reaction coordinate calculation. The potential energy barrier between each step of the reactions has been calculated to find the most favorable reaction path. The binding nature of cysteine model compound with diketone substrate has been studied through the interaction energies, bond lengths, electron density, natural bond orbital, and atoms in molecules theory analysis. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2010     

Long‐range charge transfer in donor‐peptide bridge‐acceptor model systems—A theoretical study

The quantum mechanical calculations were performed to study the effect of geometrical fluctuations of peptide on charge transfer in model oligopeptides linked between donor and acceptor molecules. The charge transfer parameters have been calculated based on the density functional theory method. Results show that the overall charge transfer in peptide mediated donor–acceptor complexes is determined by the conformations and chain length of the intermediate peptide bridge. The analysis of excess charge distribution show that the localization of an excess positive and negative charge are strongly depend on the conformations and chain length of the donor–bridge‐acceptor system. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

A theoretical study on decomposition and rearrangement reaction mechanism of trichloroacetyl chloride (CCl3COCl)

In the present study, the possible decomposition and rearrangement reaction profile of trichloroacetyl chloride have been studied using UMP2/6‐311++G (2d, 2p) level of ab initio and UB3LYP/6‐311++G (2d, 2p) level of density functional theory methods. The harmonic vibrational frequencies were calculated at the same level of theory used for the characterization of stationary points and zero‐point vibrational energy corrections. The potential energy barrier and activation energy between each step of the reaction have been calculated for the seven possible reaction pathways (Ia–c, IIa–b, IIIa–b). The trichloroacetyl chloride is an asymmetric ketone where the two α bonds of acetyl chloride, the C? C and C? Cl bonds are strong with dissociation energy of 72 kcal/mol. The phosgene (COCl₂), dichloroketene (CCl₂CO), carbon dichloride (CCl₂), carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄), and carbon monoxide (CO) are the major dominant products on the decomposition of the trichloroacetyl chloride. These resultant products are more hazards than the parent trichloroacetyl chloride molecules. The positive value of the reaction energy indicate that the overall reaction profile is found to be endothermic at the UMP2 and UBLYP/6‐311++G(2d, 2p) levels of theory, respectively, at UMP2/6‐311G** optimized geometry. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Interaction studies of cysteine with Li+, Na+, K+, Be2+, Mg2+, and Ca2+ metal cation complexes

The coordination geometries, electronic features, metal ion affinities, entropies, and the energetics of Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Be²⁺, Mg²⁺, and Ca²⁺ metal cations with different possible conformations of cysteine complexes were studied. The complexes were optimized using density functional theory (B3LYP) and second order Moller–Plesset Perturbation (MP2) theory methods using 6‐311 + +G** basis set. The interactions of the metal cations at different nucleophilic sites of cysteine conformations were considered after a careful selection among several binding sites. All the metal cations coordinate with cysteine in a tridentate manner and also the most preferred position for the interaction. It is found that, the overall structural parameters of cysteine are not altered by metal ion substitution, but, the metal ion‐binding site has undergone a noticeable change. All the complexes were characterized by an electrostatic interaction between ligand and metal ions that appears slightly more pronounced for lithium and beryllium metal complexes. The metal ion affinity (MIA) and basis set superposition error (BSSE) corrected interaction energy were also computed for all the complexes. The effect of metal cations on the infrared (IR) stretching vibrational modes of amino N? H bond, side chain thiol group S? H bond, hydroxyl O? H bond, and Carbonyl C?O bond in cysteine molecules have also been studied. The nature of the metal ion‐ligand bond and the coordination properties were examined using natural bond order (NBO) at bond critical point (electron density and their Laplacian of electron density) through Atoms in Molecules (AIM) analyses. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ultrasonic and DFT study of intermolecular association through hydrogen bonding in aqueous solutions of glycerol

The experimental measurements of density, viscosity and ultrasonic velocity of aqueous glycerol solutions were carried out as functions of concentration (0.1 ≤ m [mol kg^− 1] ≤ 1.0) and temperature (303.15 ≤ T [K] ≤323.15). The isentropic compressibility (β_s), acoustic impedance (Z), hydration number (H_n), intermolecular free length (L_f), classical sound absorption (α/f²)_class and shear relaxation time (τ) were calculated by using the measured data. These parameters have been interpreted in terms of solute–solvent interactions. The quantum chemical calculations were performed to study the hydrogen bonding in interacting complex formed between glycerol and water molecules. Computations have been done by using Density Functional Theory (DFT) method at B3LYP/6–31 + g(d) level of theory to study the equilibrium structure of glycerol, glycerol–water interacting complex and vibrational frequencies. The solution phase study was carried out using Onsager's reaction field model in water solvent. The computed vibrational frequencies are in good agreement with the main features of the experimental spectrum when four water molecules are considered explicitly with glycerol. The interaction energy (E_total), hydrogen bond lengths and dipole moment (µ_m) of the interacting complex are also presented and discussed with in the light of solute–solvent interactions.     

Studies on structure and conformational stability of free canonical 2′‐deoxyribonucleosides: Approximate SCC‐DFTB and LMP2 methods

The molecular structure of free canonical 2′‐deoxyribonucleosides have been studied by applying the electron‐correlated local second‐order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory (LMP2) and self‐consistent‐charge density‐functional tight‐binding (SCC‐DFTB) methods. The variation of structural parameters for C2, C3 endo and exo conformations, and anti, syn orientation of the base unit with furanose ring have been discussed. The relative energies have been calculated for the anti and syn conformations of dT, dC, dG, and dA. Conformational analysis has been performed using the results of the LMP2 and SCC‐DFTB methods. Chemical hardness and chemical potential have been used to study the conformational stability of the conformers. The maximum hardness principle is obeyed for the furanose ring conformations and not for the nucleosides. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004     

Isomerization study of C5H5NO molecules

The complex potential energy surface (PES) for the isomerization of C₅H₅NO species, including 18 isomers and 23 interconversion transition states, is probed theoretically at the B3LYP/6‐311++G(d,p) and MP2//B3LYP/6‐311++G(d,p) levels of theory. The geometries and relative energies for various stationary points were determined. The zero‐point vibrational energy (ZPVE) corrections have been made to calculate the reliable energy. We predicted a six‐membered ring structure as a global minima isomer I, which is 118.49 and 131.48 kcal · mol^?1 more stable than the least stable, four‐ and three‐membered ring isomer VIII at B3LYP and MP2//B3LYP levels of theory, respectively. The isomers and interconversion transition states have verified by frequency calculation. The intrinsic reaction coordinates (IRC) calculations have been performed to confirm that each transition state is linked by the desired reactants and products. The isomer stability has been studied using relative energies, chemical hardness, and chemical potential. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007