An efficient methodology to study cyclodextrin clusters: application to α-CD hydrated monomer, dimer, trimer and tetramer

The hydrated α-cyclodextrin (α-CD) clusters resulting from the following process: nα-CD + n(H₂O)₆ → α-CD_n · 6nH₂O, with n = 1, 2, 3, 4, have been investigated using semiempirical (PM3), ab initio Hartree-Fock and Density Functional Theory (BLYP functional) levels of theory. The largest structure containing 576 atoms and 5,760 contracted basis functions (6-31G(d,p) basis set) poses as a considerable hard task for quantum chemical calculations. As the number of basis function increases rapidly with the cluster size, an alternative procedure to make the calculations feasible is certainly welcome, in order to perform BLYP calculations with an adequate basis set. Through the aid of a computer program that we developed, it became of practical use the selection of atom by atom basis sets, using the common chemical sense, enabling quantum mechanical calculations to be performed for very large molecular interacting systems (inclusion complexes), at an affordable computational cost. In this article we show how an appropriate selection of basis functions, leaving the CH_n groups with a minimal basis set and the oxygen atoms (and OH groups) with a better quality basis set, lower considerably the computational cost with no significant loss in the calculated interaction energies. A regular pattern is observed for α-CD hydrated monomer, dimer, trimer and tetramer, therefore adding support to the use of this procedure when studying larger hydrogen bonded clusters where electron correlation effects are important. We show that the procedure reported here enables DFT calculations for hydrated cyclodextrin using basis set up to the 6-311++G(3df,3pd) triple zeta quality .