Peter Poliak

The DFT calculations of pKa values of the cationic acids of aniline and pyridine derivatives in common solvents

Abstract The theoretical pKa values of the derivatives of anilinium and pyridinium ions in 7 solvents are presented. For this purpose, the usage of isodesmic reaction scheme using the DFT/B3LYP approach with IEFPCM solvation was evaluated. We have shown that the suitable selection of reference species has the primary influence on the resulting data. For the studied anilinium ion derivatives the nonsubstituted anilinium ion seems to be a satisfactory reference system. The calculated values are in good accordance with the available experimental data with the RMS error of 1.00 and 0.99 pKa units in water and THF, respectively. The highest error in predicted pKa value is less than 2.0 pKa units in all cases. The chemical accuracy of the applied treatment is limited in the case of nitroaniline ions and the maximal therotetical uncertainty for derivatives of the pyridinium ion is within 2.1 pKa units. Our theoretical results enable us to predict the values of pKa for the solvents, where the experimental data are not completely available. Also the influence of the chemical structure on the accuracy of the applied method was discussed.

Torsional deformation effect on the N—H bond dissociation energy in diphenylamine

Abstract In this work, the influence of the inter-ring dihedral angles and their deformation on the energetics of diphenylamine molecule and its radical is investigated by the B3LYP/6-311++G** approach. Our approximated bond dissociation enthalpy of diphenylamine is 370.0 kJ mol-1 and it is in good agreement with the recently published experimental data. The potential functions of both the molecule and the radical with respect to the mutual aromatic ring orientations are presented. The potential function for the molecule is of a double-barrier type, whereas the radical possesses a single-barrier function. The calculated total electronic energies are used to approximate the change of the bond dissociation enthalpy with the twisting of the dihedral angle. The dependence of the bond dissociation enthalpy on the dihedral angle is represented by a single-barrier type function. The dependence of the nitrogen atom spin density on the studied dihedral angle is also discussed.

Quantum-chemical study of C— H bond dissociation enthalpies of various small non-aromatic organic molecules

Abstract In this work, C-H bond dissociation enthalpies (BDE) and vertical ionization potentials (IP) for various hydrocarbons and ketones were calculated using four density functional approaches. Calculated BDEs and IPs were correlated with experimental data. The linearity of the corresponding dependences can be considered very good. Comparing two used functionals, B3LYP C-H BDE values are closer to experimental results than PBE0 values for both used basis sets. The 6-31G* basis set employed with both functionals, gives the C-H BDEs closer to the experimental values than the 6-311++G** basis set. Using the obtained linear dependences BDEexp = f (BDEcalc), the experimental values of C-H BDEs for some structurally related compounds can be estimated solely from calculations. As a descriptor of the C-H BDE, the IPs and 13C NMR chemical shifts have been investigated using data obtained from the B3LYP/6-31G* calculations. There is a slight indication of linear correlation between IPs and C-H BDEs in the sets of simple alkanes and alkenes/ cycloalkenes. However, for cycloalkanes and aliphatic carbonyl compounds, no linear correlation was found. In the case of the 13C NMR chemical shifts, the correlation with C-H BDEs can be found for the sets of alkanes and cycloalkanes, but for the other studied molecules, no trends were detected.

Water effect on the bond dissociation energy of O–H and N–H bonds in phenol and aniline: The testing of simple molecular dynamics model

Abstract A chemical microsolvation model for solution phase bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE) evaluation by means of molecular dynamics is presented. In this simple model, the primary solvent effect on the BDE values was estimated by placing of five water molecules nearby the studied functional groups evenly. Furthermore, the secondary solvent effect was reflected using the conductor like screening model (COSMO). From the quantum-chemical point of view, the molecular dynamics simulations based on the B3LYP functional in rather small basis set were performed. Despite of the constitutional limitations of the proposed model, the obtained O-H and N-H BDE values in phenol (363 kJ mol-1) and aniline (369 kJ mol-1) are in good agreement with the experimental solution phase data.

Thermodynamics of radical scavenging of symmetric carotenoids and their charged species

For nine symmetric natural carotenoids, a comprehensive thermodynamics study of processes associated with their radical scavenging activity is proposed. We have investigated the hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) from the parent carotenoid, mono-radical species, radical cations and radical anions. Electron transfer and proton transfer reactions were also studied. Terminal units and carbon atoms in their vicinity were identified as thermodynamically favoured reaction sites of the HAT mechanism. Rhodoxanthin, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin, as strong antioxidants, without any pro-oxidative effect, were found to have bond dissociation enthalpies (BDE) higher than 300 kJ mol-1 and the most negative electron affinities. The electron transfer to a carotenoid is exothermic, while other studied reactions are endothermic. In solvent, the electron transfer reactions may be preferred instead of hydrogen atom transfer.

Quantum-chemical study of molecular structure and relative stability of trans and cis isomers of model anilide derivatives

Abstract Derivatives of anilide were studied systematically by the density functional theory (DFT) using the B3LYP hybrid functional and the 6-311+G(3df,2p) basis set. Characteristic frequencies of N-H and C=O stretching modes for cis and trans conformers distinguishing were compared with available experimental and theoretical data. Effect of substitution in ortho position and acidic residue group is discussed with respect to the bond length changes in the aromatic ring and aromaticity indexes. Energy differences between cis and trans conformations allow estimating the effect of intramolecular hydrogen bonds stabilizing the studied conformations. The trans conformation of parent formanilide is stabilized via the C(aromatic) -H∙∙∙O=C interaction with the energy of around 4 kJ・mol-1. The selected anilide series represent model compounds for drug design.

Theoretical study of substituent effects on the geometry and strain enthalpy in [2,2]paracyclophanes

Abstract The substituent effect on the geometry and strain enthalpy of [2,2]paracyclophane is theoretically investigated by density functional theory. Gas-phase calculations were performed for twenty distinct electron donating and electron withdrawing substituents. The largest out-of-plane distortion of phenyl rings is exhibited by —SCN and —CF3 groups. On the other hand, —OH, —CH3 and —F groups show the minimal deformation. The strain enthalpy for unsubstituted [2,2]paracyclophane associated with repulsive forces between phenyl units reached up to 118.5 kJ mol−1. Any substitution causes increase of the strain enthalpy value proportionally to the absolute values of Hammett para-substituent constants. Two separate linear dependences with similar slopes were obtained for monosubstituted as well as double symmetrically substituted derivatives.

Theoretical study of the energetics of carboxylic O–H bond cleavage in the para- and meta-substituted benzoic acid derivatives

Abstract Gas phase bond dissociation enthalpies (BDE) of para- and meta-substituted benzoic acids and proton affinities (PA) of their carboxylate anions were investigated using the B3LYP/6-311++G** method for 15 substituents with various electron-donating and electron-withdrawing effects. The employed computational method provided BDE and PA values in fair agreement with experimental data. The substituent effect on BDEs and PAs was analyzed in terms of Hammett constants. Found dependences exhibit satisfactory linearity and enable quick estimation of BDEs and PAs from the Hammett constants.