Cleber P. A. Anconi

Structure and Stability of (α-CD)3 Aggregate and OEG@(α-CD)3 Pseudorotaxane in Aqueous Solution: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Empty linear associations accounting for three alpha-CD units and their corresponding pseudorotaxanes have been studied by means of long length molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in a vacuum and in aqueous solution. Results from MD for empty sequences lead to a quite stable arrangement formed by three mutually perpendicular cyclodextrin (CD) units named here as 3P. In such a spatial arrangement, the van der Waals term in the force field is pronounced, accounting for almost 40% of the association energy, which ensures the noticeable stability of the 3P association even in aqueous media. In addition, it can be stated that only the presence of the oligomer forces the CD units to acquire an almost linear association. Mutually perpendicular-based arrangements are the most favorable spatial disposition in aqueous media. We believe this work is the first step toward a more ambitious study including very large CD sequences, aiming to understand the association process in aqueous solution at a molecular level.

Experimental and theoretical investigation of epoxide quebrachitol derivatives through spectroscopic analysis.

Two synthetic epoxide derivatives, important intermediates in organic synthesis, were obtained from L-quebrachitol, and their conformations were proposed based on spectroscopic analysis. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of infrared and NMR spectra were shown to be reliable enough for organic chemistry applications. The observed structures were determined with the aid of the DFT spectroscopic data, stressing the relevance and utility of combined experimental/theoretical studies and also the usefulness of the (13)C NMR B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) calculations.

Water Solvent Effect on Theoretical Evaluation of 1H NMR Chemical Shifts: o-Methyl-Inositol Isomer

In this paper, density functional theory calculations of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shifts for l-quebrachitol isomer, previously studied in our group, are reported with the aim of investigating in more detail the water solvent effect on the prediction of 1H NMR spectra. In order to include explicit water molecules, 20 water-l-quebrachitol configurations obtained from Monte Carlo simulation were selected to perform geometry optimizations using the effective fragment potential method encompassing 60 water molecules around the solute. The solvated solute optimized geometries were then used in B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p) NMR calculations with PCM-water. The inclusion of explicit solvent in the B3LYP NMR calculations resulted in large changes in the 1H NMR profiles. We found a remarkable improvement in the agreement with experimental NMR profiles when the explicit hydrated l-quebrachitol structure is used in B3LYP 1H NMR calculations, yielding a mean absolute error (MAE) of only 0.07 ppm, much lower than reported previously for the gas phase optimized structure (MAE = 0.11 ppm). In addition, a very improved match between theoretical and experimental 1H NMR spectrum measured in D2O was achieved with the new hydrated optimized l-quebrachitol structure, showing that a fine-tuning of the theoretical NMR spectra can be accomplished once solvent effects are properly considered.