Farzaneh Sarrami

An assessment of theoretical procedures for π-conjugation stabilisation energies in enones

We introduce a representative database of 22 α,β- to β,γ-enecarbonyl isomerisation energies (to be known as the EIE22 data-set). Accurate reaction energies are obtained at the complete basis-set limit CCSD(T) level by means of the high-level W1-F12 thermochemical protocol. The isomerisation reactions involve a migration of one double bond that breaks the conjugated π-system. The considered enecarbonyls involve a range of common functional groups (e.g., Me, NH2, OMe, F, and CN). Apart from π-conjugation effects, the chemical environments are largely conserved on the two sides of the reactions and therefore the EIE22 data-set allows us to assess the performance of a variety of density functional theory (DFT) procedures for the calculation of π-conjugation stabilisation energies in enecarbonyls. We find that, with few exceptions (M05-2X, M06-2X, BMK, and BH&HLYP), all the conventional DFT procedures attain root mean square deviations (RMSDs) between 5.0 and 11.7 kJ mol−1. The range-separated and double-hybrid DFT procedures, on the other hand, show good performance with RMSDs below the ‘chemical accuracy’ threshold. We also examine the performance of composite and standard ab initio procedures. Of these, SCS-MP2 offers the best performance-to-computational cost ratio with an RMSD of 0.8 kJ mol−1.

Can DFT and ab initio methods describe all aspects of the potential energy surface of cycloreversion reactions

Abstract We introduce a representative benchmark database of 20 cycloreversion reaction energies obtained by means of the high-level W1 thermochemical protocol. We use these benchmark values to assess the performance of a variety of contemporary DFT, double-hybrid DFT (DHDFT), standard ab initio, and compound thermochemistry methods. We show that this set of reaction energies provides an extremely challenging test for nearly all of the considered DFT and DHDFT methods. For example, about 80% of the considered functionals result in root-mean-square deviations (RMSDs) above 10 kJ mol−1. The best DFT and DHDFT procedures are ωB97X and DSD-PBEP86-D3, with RMSDs of 4.7 and 7.9 kJ mol−1, respectively. Coupled with the fact that the barrier heights for these reactions also pose a significant challenge for many DFT methods, this work shows that only a handful of functionals can quantitatively describe all aspects of the potential energy surface of this important class of reactions. In addition, this work shows that London dispersion effects are particularly large for this class of reactions. For example, empirical D3 dispersion corrections reduce the RMSDs for the DFT and DHDFT procedures by amounts ranging from 3.5 (PBE and B2K-PLYP) to 22.0 (BLYP) kJ mol−1. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Computational design of bio-inspired carnosine-based HOBr antioxidants

During a respiratory burst the enzyme myeloperoxidase generates significant amounts of hypohalous acids (HOX, X = Cl and Br) in order to inflict oxidative damage upon invading pathogens. However, excessive production of these potent oxidants is associated with numerous inflammatory diseases. It has been suggested that the endogenous antioxidant carnosine is an effective HOCl scavenger. Recent computational and experimental studies suggested that an intramolecular Cl+ transfer from the imidazole ring to the terminal amine might play an important role in the antioxidant activity of carnosine. Based on high-level ab initio calculations, we propose a similar reaction mechanism for the intramolecular Br+ transfer in carnosine. These results suggest that carnosine may be an effective HOBr scavenger. On the basis of the proposed reaction mechanism, we proceed to design systems that share similar structural features to carnosine but with enhanced HOX scavenging capabilities for X = Cl and Br. We find that (i) elongating the β-alanyl-glycyl side chain by one carbon reduces the reaction barriers by up to 44%, and (ii) substituting the imidazole ring with strong electron-donating groups reduces the reaction barriers by similar amounts. We also show that the above structural and electronic effects are largely additive. In an antioxidant candidate that involves both of these effects the reaction barriers are reduced by 71%.