Célia Fonseca Guerra

Voronoi deformation density (VDD) charges: Assessment of the Mulliken, Bader, Hirshfeld, Weinhold, and VDD methods for charge analysis

We present the Voronoi Deformation Density (VDD) method for computing atomic charges. The VDD method does not explicitly use the basis functions but calculates the amount of electronic density that flows to or from a certain atom due to bond formation by spatial integration of the deformation density over the atomic Voronoi cell. We compare our method to the well‐known Mulliken, Hirshfeld, Bader, and Weinhold [Natural Population Analysis (NPA)] charges for a variety of biological, organic, and inorganic molecules. The Mulliken charges are (again) shown to be useless due to heavy basis set dependency, and the Bader charges (and often also the NPA charges) are not realistic, yielding too extreme values that suggest much ionic character even in the case of covalent bonds. The Hirshfeld and VDD charges, which prove to be numerically very similar, are to be recommended because they yield chemically meaningful charges. We stress the need to use spatial integration over an atomic domain to get rid of basis set dependency, and the need to integrate the deformation density in order to obtain a realistic picture of the charge rearrangement upon bonding. An asset of the VDD charges is the transparency of the approach owing to the simple geometric partitioning of space. The deformation density based charges prove to conform to chemical experience.

Charge Transfer and Environment Effects Responsible for Characteristics of DNA Base Pairing.

A hitherto unresolved discrepancy between theory and experiment is unraveled. Charge transfer and the influence of the environment in the crystal are vital for understanding the nature and for reproducing the structure of hydrogen bonds in DNA base pairs. The introduction of water molecules and a sodium counterion into the theoretical model (see picture) deforms the geometry of AT and GC in such a way that excellent agreement with the experimental structures is obtained.

Telomere Structure and Stability: Covalency in Hydrogen Bonds, Not Resonance Assistance, Causes Cooperativity in Guanine Quartets

We show that the cooperative reinforcement between hydrogen bonds in guanine quartets is not caused by resonance-assisted hydrogen bonding (RAHB). This follows from extensive computational analyses of guanine quartets (G(4)) and xanthine quartets (X(4)) based on dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D). Our investigations cover the situation of quartets in the gas phase, in aqueous solution as well as in telomere-like stacks. A new mechanism for cooperativity between hydrogen bonds in guanine quartets emerges from our quantitative Kohn-Sham molecular orbital (MO) and corresponding energy decomposition analyses (EDA). Our analyses reveal that the intriguing cooperativity originates from the charge separation that goes with donor-acceptor orbital interactions in the σ-electron system, and not from the strengthening caused by resonance in the π-electron system. The cooperativity mechanism proposed here is argued to apply, beyond the present model systems, also to other hydrogen bonds that show cooperativity effects.

Highly accelerated inverse electron-demand cycloaddition of electron-deficient azides with aliphatic cyclooctynes

Strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) as a conjugation tool has found broad application in material sciences, chemical biology and even in vivo use. However, despite tremendous effort, SPAAC remains fairly slow (0.2-0.5 M(-1) s(-1)) and efforts to increase reaction rates by tailoring of cyclooctyne structure have suffered from a poor trade-off between cyclooctyne reactivity and stability. We here wish to report tremendous acceleration of strain-promoted cycloaddition of an aliphatic cyclooctyne (bicyclo[6.1.0]non-4-yne, BCN) with electron-deficient aryl azides, with reaction rate constants reaching 2.0-2.9 M(-1) s(-1). A remarkable difference in rate constants of aliphatic cyclooctynes versus benzoannulated cyclooctynes is noted, enabling a next level of orthogonality by a judicious choice of azide-cyclooctyne combinations, which is inter alia applied in one-pot three-component protein labelling. The pivotal role of azide electronegativity is explained by density-functional theory calculations and electronic-structure analyses, which indicates an inverse electron-demand mechanism is operative with an aliphatic cyclooctyne.

A Ditopic Ion-Pair Receptor Based on Stacked Nucleobase Quartets†

Pass the salt, please! State-of-the-art computations indicate that the stacking complex of a guanine quartet and an adenine quartet (G(4)A(4)) can function as a potent ditopic receptor for NaCl in aqueous solution (see picture; Na(+), Cl(-) yellow, O red, N blue, C black, H white).

Silver(I)-mediated Hoogsteen-type base pairs

Metal-mediated Hoogsteen-type base pairs are useful for the construction of DNA duplexes containing contiguous stretches of metal ions along the helical axis. To fine-tune the stability of such base pairs and the selectivity toward different metal ions, the availability of a selection of artificial nucleobases is highly desirable. In this study, we follow a theoretical approach utilizing dispersion-corrected density functional methods to evaluate a variety of artificial nucleobases as candidates for metal-mediated Hoogsteen-type base pairs. We focus on silver(I)-mediated Hoogsteen- and reverse Hoogsteen-type base pairs formed between 1-deaza- and 1,3-dideazapurine-derived nucleobases, respectively, and cytosine. Apart from two coordinative bonds, these base pairs are stabilized by a hydrogen bond. We elucidate the impact of different substituents at the C6 position and the presence or absence of an endocyclic N3 nitrogen atom on the overall stability of a base pair and concomitantly on the strength of the hydrogen and coordinative bonds. All artificial base pairs investigated in this study are less stable than the experimentally established benchmark base pair C-Ag(+)-G. The base pair formed from 1,3-dideaza-6-methoxypurine is isoenergetic to the experimentally observed C-Ag(+)-C base pair. This makes 1,3-dideaza-6-methoxypurine a promising candidate for the use as an artificial nucleobase in DNA.

A Highly Stabilizing Silver(I)‐Mediated Base Pair in Parallel‐Stranded DNA

The first parallel-stranded DNA duplex with Hoogsteen base pairing that readily incorporates an Ag(+) ion into an internal mispair to form a metal-mediated base pair has been created. Towards this end, the highly stabilizing 6 FP-Ag(+)-6 FP base pair comprising the artificial nucleobase 6-furylpurine (6 FP) was devised. A combination of temperature-dependent UV spectroscopy, CD spectroscopy, and DFT calculations was used to confirm the formation of this base pair. The nucleobase 6 FP is capable of forming metal-mediated base pairs both by the Watson-Crick edge (i.e. in regular antiparallel-stranded DNA) and by the Hoogsteen edge (i.e. in parallel-stranded DNA), depending on the oligonucleotide sequence and the experimental conditions. The 6 FP-Ag(+)-6 FP base pair within parallel-stranded DNA is the most strongly stabilizing Ag(+)-mediated base pair reported to date for any type of nucleic acid, with an increase in melting temperature of almost 15 °C upon the binding of one Ag(+) ion.

LADUNGSTRANSFER UND MOLEKULARE UMGEBUNG SIND VERANTWORTLICH FUR EIGENSCHAFTEN VON WASSERSTOFFBRUCKEN IN DNA-BASENPAAREN

Die Ursache fur eine bisher unerklarbare Diskrepanz zwischen Theorie und Experiment wurde ermittelt: Ladungstransfer und der Einflus der molekularen Umgebung im Kristall sind von essentieller Bedeutung fur das Verstehen der Natur von Wasserstoffbrucken in DNA-Basenpaaren und das Reproduzieren ihrer Struktur. Die Einfuhrung von Wassermolekulen und einem Natrium-Gegenion in das theoretische Modell (siehe Bild) verzerrt die Geometrie von AT- und GC-Basenpaaren derartig, das eine ausgezeichnete Ubereinstimmung mit den experimentellen Strukturen erlangt wird.

Hypervalent carbon atom: "freezing" the S(N)2 transition state.

High Five! Under certain circumstances a carbon atom can become hypervalent (see structure) and bind five substituents in the trigonal-bipyramidal structure, which is normally the labile SN

Orbital interactions and charge redistribution in weak hydrogen bonds: The Watson–Crick AT mimic adenine-2,4-difluorotoluene

The discovery by Kool and co-workers that 2,4-difluorotoluene (F) mimics thymine (T) in DNA replication has led to a controversy about the question if this mimic has the capability of forming hydrogen bonds with adenine (A). In the present study, we address not only the question about the strengths of the hydrogen bonds in AF as compared to those in AT but we focus in particular on the nature of these interactions. Thus, we have analyzed AF and AT at the BP86/TZ2P level of density functional theory (DFT). In line with previous experience, this approach is shown to achieve close agreement with the available data from ab initio computations and experiment: the complexation energy of AF (−3.2 kcal/mol) is confirmed to be much weaker indeed than that of AT (−13.0 kcal/mol). Interestingly, the weak hydrogen bonds in AF still possess a significant orbital interaction component that resembles the situation for the more strongly bound AT, as follows from (1) an analysis of the orbital electronic structure of AF a...