Jelena Tošović

Comparative study of the antioxidative activities of caffeoylquinic and caffeic acids

A detailed conformational analysis was performed to determine the most stable conformers of chlorogenic, cryptochlorogenic, and neochlorogenic acids. The simulated and experimental NMR spectra of caffeoylquinic acids are in excellent agreement. The bond dissociation enthalpies, proton affinities, electron transfer enthalpies, ionisation potentials, and proton dissociation enthalpies for these compounds and caffeic acid in benzene, methanol, and water were used for thermodynamic consideration of the major antioxidative mechanisms: HAT (Hydrogen Atom Transfer), SPLET (Sequential Proton-Loss Electron-Transfer), and SET-PT (Single Electron Transfer - Proton Transfer). All compounds are characterised with very similar values of each enthalpy, suggesting that they will exhibit comparable antioxidative activities. This assumption is in perfect accord with the experimental findings. It was suggested that HAT may be the predominant mechanism in nonpolar solvents, while HAT and SPLET are competitive pathways in polar media. All calculations were performed using the B3LYP-D2/6-311++G(d,p) and M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p) levels of theory and CPCM solvation model.

Ring Currents in Benzo- and Benzocyclobutadieno-Annelated Biphenylene Derivatives

The effect of benzo and benzocyclobutadieno annelation on the current density induced in a series of biphenylene derivatives is examined at the B3LYP/cc-pVDZ level of theory, by using the CTOCD-DZ method. Angular benzo annelation increases, whereas linear benzo annelation decreases the intensity of paratropic (antiaromatic) current density along the four-membered ring of biphenylene. The opposite effect is found for benzocyclobutadieno annelation. It is shown that the extent of local aromaticity of the four-membered ring in biphenylene congeners can vary from highly antiaromatic to nonaromatic, as a result of different modes of annelation.

Antioxidative mechanisms in chlorogenic acid

Although chlorogenic acid (5CQA) is an important ingredient of various foods and beverages, mechanisms of its antioxidative action have not been fully clarified. Besides electron spin resonance experiment, this study includes thermodynamic and mechanistic investigations of the hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), radical adduct formation (RAF), sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET), and single electron transfer - proton transfer (SET-PT) mechanisms of 5CQA in benzene, ethanol, and water solutions. The calculations were performed using the M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory and CPCM solvation model. It was found that SET-PT is not a plausible antioxidative mechanism of 5CQA. RAF pathways are faster, but HAT yields thermodynamically more stable radical products, indicating that in acidic and neutral media 5CQA can take either HAT or RAF pathways. In basic environment (e.g. at physiological pH) SPLET is the likely antioxidative mechanism of 5CQA with extremely high rate.

Local aromaticity in naphtho-annelated fluoranthenes: can the five-membered rings be more aromatic than the six-membered rings?

All Kekulé-structure-based theories predict that the central five-membered ring in fluoranthene and naphtho-annelated fluoranthenes is nonaromatic. In the present work, a detailed study of the local aromaticity in a series of naphtho-annelated fluoranthene derivatives was performed by means of the following aromaticity indices: the energy effect (ef), bond resonance energy (BRE), multicenter delocalization indices (MCI), harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity (HOMA) index, nucleus-independent chemical shifts (NICS), and ring current maps. It was found that, according to the ef, BRE, MCI, and HOMA values, the pentagonal rings in some naphtho-annelated fluoranthenes can be even more aromatic than some hexagonal rings in the respective molecules. The magnetic indices do not support the results obtained by the energetic, electron delocalization, and geometrical aromaticity indices.