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Through space charge transfer (TSCT) based thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules with sky-blue emission have drawn great attentions in recent studies. Corresponding theoretical investigations to reveal the inner mechanisms are highly desired. Herein, the photophysical properties of TSCT based TADF molecule (S-CNDF-S-tCz) are theoretically studied both in solvent and solid environments by using polarizable continuum model and the combined quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics method, respectively. Based on density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory coupled with thermal vibration correlation function method, the adiabatic singlet-triplet energy gap, natural transition orbitals properties, TSCT ratio, reorganization energies, intermolecular interactions as well as the rate constants of intersystem crossing and reverse intersystem crossing processes are analyzed, excited state dynamics and energy consumption process are discussed in detail. Results indicate that the geometric changes on accepter unit are restricted from chloroform to solid phase with decreased reorganization energy contributed by bond angle. While for remarkable geometric changes on donor unit from chloroform to solid phase, the increased reorganization energy is mainly contributed by bond length and dihedral angle. Moreover, different triplet exciton conversion processes are illustrated for molecule in chloroform (T3S1) and solid phase (T2S1 and T2S2S1). In addition, the reduced non-radiative consumption is revealed and high fluorescence efficiency (29.2%) is achieved in solid phase, which is corresponding well with the experimental results (31%). Furthermore, the distance between donor and acceptor is suppressed by intermolecular interactions and enhanced TSCT feature is determined in solid phase. Thus, a wise design strategy is confirmed that TSCT feature can light up multi-channel reverse intersystem crossing process to increase the triplet exciton utilizations for realizing highly efficient TADF emission. Our calculations give reasonable explanation for previous experimental measurements and provide theoretical perspective for structure-property relationship, which could facilitate the development of new efficient TSCT based TADF emitters.

In the present study, the synthesis, antioxidant activity, spectroscopic, electronic, and thermodynamic properties of 2-ethoxy-4-[(5-oxo-3-phenyl-1,5-dihydro-1,2,4-triazol-4-ylimino)-methyl]-phenyl-4-methoxybenzoate (EPM) were examined. The novel 2-ethoxy-4-[(5-oxo-3-phenyl-1,5-dihydro-1,2,4-triazol-4-ylimino)-methyl]-phenyl-4-methoxybenzoate (EPM) compound was successfully synthesized with novel derived biologically important 1,2,4-triazole Schiff base. This biologically active 1,2,4-triazole Schiff base was obtained through condensation of 3-phenyl-4-amino-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-5-one with 2-ethoxy-4-formylphenyl-4-methoxybenzoate. The characterization of the obtained compound was identified utilizing FT-IR, UV–Vis, 1H-, and 13C-NMR spectroscopies. The antioxidant activities of the newly synthesized Schiff base were evaluated employing the Oyaizu, Dinis, and Blois techniques. The optimized molecular structure, vibrational frequencies, ultraviolet–visible spectrums, and nuclear magnetic resonance values of the newly synthesized Schiff base were assessed through the use of density functional theory (DFT) with standard B3LYP/6–311++G(d,p) level. The harmonic vibration peaks were performed via comparison of the scaled values with the experimental FT-IR spectrum. The nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift values were determined by the gauge-independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method. The nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift values of the newly synthesized Schiff base in various solvents were examined at B3LYP/6–311++G(d,p) level utilizing integral equation formalism polarizable continuum model (IEFPCM). The chemical shift values of EPM were computed and compared with experimental findings. The correlational analysis (R2) and RMSD results were evaluated to demonstrate correction and accuracy between calculated and experimental parameters. The HOMO–LUMO orbital forms and their energies were determined. The molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), Mulliken atomic charges, electronic absorption maximum wavelengths, thermodynamic characteristics (i.e., entropy, thermal capacity, and enthalpy), and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties (i.e., the first hyperpolarizability and polarizability) of the newly synthesized Schiff base were investigated. The correlational analysis results indicated a strong relationship between experimental and theoretical findings. The metal chelating activity of the newly synthesized Schiff base and standards was observed to decrease in the order of EDTA > EPM > α-tocopherol according to Dinis method. The newly synthesized Schiff base displayed such a good NLO property that it was 34 times as great as the property of urea. As a result, this chromophore could be a potential building block for nonlinear optical materials.

We study computationally the electronic spectra of C60 thin films using the recently developed density functional theory (DFT) framework combining a screened range separated hybrid (SRSH) functional with a polarizable continuum model (PCM). The SRSH-PCM approach achieves excellent correspondence between the frontier orbital's energy levels and the ionization potential and electron affinity of the molecular system at the condensed phase and consequently leads to high quality electronic excitation energies when used in time-dependent DFT calculations. Our calculated excited states reproduce the experimentally main reported spectral peaks at the 3.6-4.6 eV energy range and when addressing excitonic effects also reproduce the red-shifted spectral feature. Notably, we analyze the low-lying peak at 2.7 eV and associate it to an excitonic state.

The mechanisms of enolization and reactions of nucleophilic addition to carbonyl compounds were analyzed by density functional theory (DFT) (PBE1PBE) and ab initio (DLPNO-CCSD(T)) level of theory using the interaction of water and hydrogen peroxide with acetone and 1,1,1-trifluoroacetone (TFA) as the reference reactions. The transition states of the studied reactions were localized within the integrated approach that includes both the dielectric continuum theory (polarizable continuum model (PCM)) and the cyclic or two-cluster explicit solvation models. The considered models provide proton transfer in the enolization, hydration, and peroxidation reactions by the Grotthuss mechanism. It is shown that the calculated activation parameters at a sufficiently high level of theory and a sufficiently flexible solvation model can be additionally refined using the Bell-Evans-Polanyi (BEP)-like correction (in a form of the Bell-Evans-Polanyi equation), which is linear scaling of the model potential energy surface according to the equilibrium parameters of the reference reaction (experiment or high-level calculation). Quite good correspondence of the corrected and reference activation parameters and the lower sensitivity of the calculation results to the choice of the solvation model indicate the high reliability of the proposed BEP-like correction technique.

A nearly linear scaling implementation of coupled-cluster with singles and doubles excitations (CCSD) can be achieved by means of the domain-based local pair natural orbital (DLPNO) method. The combination of DLPNO-CCSD with implicit solvation methods allows the calculation of accurate energies and chemical properties of solvated systems at an affordable computational cost. We have efficiently implemented different schemes within the conductor-like polarizable continuum model (C-PCM) for DLPNO-CCSD in the ORCA quantum chemistry suite. In our implementation, the overhead due to the additional solvent terms amounts to less than 5% of the time the equivalent gas phase job takes. Our results for organic neutrals and open-shell ions in water show that for most systems, adding solvation terms to the coupled-cluster amplitudes equations and to the energy leads to small changes in the total energy compared to only considering solvated orbitals and corrections to the reference energy. However, when the solute contains certain functional groups, such as carbonyl or nitrile groups, the changes in the energy are larger and estimated to be around 0.04 and 0.02 kcal/mol for each carbonyl and nitrile group in the solute, respectively. For solutes containing metals, the use of accurate CC/C-PCM schemes is crucial to account for correlation solvation effects. Simultaneously, we have calculated the electrostatic component of the solvation energy for neutrals and ions in water for the different DLPNO-CCSD/C-PCM schemes. We observe negligible changes in the deviation between DLPNO-CCSD and canonical-CCSD data. Here, DLPNO-CCSD results outperform those for Hartree-Fock and density functional theory calculations.

We present an effective computational protocol (cLR2) to describe both solvatochromism and fluorosolvatochromism. This protocol, which couples the polarizable continuum model to time-dependent density functional theory, simultaneously accounts for both linear-response and state-specific solvation effects. A series of test cases, including solvatochromic and fluorosolvatochromic compounds and excited-state intramolecular proton transfers, are used to highlight that cLR2 is especially beneficial for modeling bright excitations possessing a significant charge-transfer character, as well as cases in which an accurate balance between states of various polarities should be restored.

3-Hydroxyflavon (3-HF) represents an interesting paradigmatic compound to study excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) and intermolecular (ESInterPT) processes to explain the experimentally observed dual fluorescence in solvents containing protic contamination (water) as opposed to single fluorescence in highly purified nonpolar solvents. In this work, adiabatic on-the-fly molecular dynamics simulations have been performed for isolated 3-HF in an aqueous solution using a polarizable continuum model and including explicit water molecules to represent adequately hydrogen bonding. For the calculation of the excited state, time-dependent density functional theory and the Becke-3-Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP) functional have been used. For the isolated 3-HF, ultrafast ESIPT from the enol group to the neighboring keto group has been observed. The calculated PT time of 48 fs agrees well with the experimental value of 39 fs. Addition of one water molecule quenches this ESIPT process but shows an intermolecular concerted or stepwise tautomerization process via the bridging water molecule. Adding a second or more water molecules inhibits this ESInterPT process to a large degree. Most of the trajectories do not show any PT, preserving the initial excited-state enol structure, which is the origin of the violet-blue fluorescence appearing in the solvents contaminated with protic components.

The degradation mechanisms of 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO) in the bulk water were explored at the density functional theory (DFT) level using the M06-2X functional and the 6-311G(d,p) basis set; the effect of bulk water solution was considered using the conductor-like polarizable continuum model (CPCM) approach. The initial dissociation step of NTO may be triggered by UV light, radicals, and heat. Our computed results suggest that radical-induced reactions should be suitable for the initial degradation of NTO in water. The follow-up further degradation illustrated that the product fragments may include urazole, NO, NO2, HONO, CO2, di-imide, and N2. It was revealed that hydroxide ions can accelerate the degradation of NTO in water.

The main challenge war focused on the detection of dopamine drug using a type of AlN nanotube sensor through density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The interaction behavior of dopamine (DA) and aluminum nitride single-wall nanotube (AlNNT) was investigated by using DFT calculation. For the most stable complex, the energy of adsorption of DA on the aluminum nitride single-wall nanotube’s surface was − 17.31 kcal/mol. DA adsorbs through an electrostatic mechanism on the AlNNT. The electrical conductivity of the nanotube has improved significantly by around 28.78 percent through the DA molecules’ absorption on the surface of nanotube. This increase can be used as a signal to detect a drug. Therefore, after DA drug adsorption, the AlNNT work function is reduced from 4.56 to 3.25 eV. Thus, the AlNNT can be both the electronic and work function-type sensor for DA detection. Compared with the gas phase, AlNNT-DA has more stability in aqueous media according to polarizable continuum model (PCM). Eventually, our results also uncovered that, in the presence of environmental contaminants, the AlNNT can selectively recognize the DA molecule.

Density functional theory was used to study the adsorption behavior of ibuprofen (IBP) on an aluminum nitride (AlN) nanocage. The adsorption energy of IBP on the AlN surface was calculated to be about −29.43 kcal/mol in the most stable complex. Furthermore, the IBP concentration effect was examined on the adsorption behavior. We found that the IBP molecule adsorbed on the AlN nanocage through an electrostatic mechanism. Moreover, after IBP adsorption, the AlN HOMO-LUMO gap decreased significantly from 3.99 to 2.84 eV, and the work function value of AlN-IBP complex became smaller (by about 14.5%) compared to that of the pristine AlN nanocage. Thus, AlN might be an electronic or a work function-type sensor for IBP detection. Based on the polarizable continuum model calculations, the AlN-IBP complex in water medium was more stable compared to the gas phase. Our findings also revealed that the AlN nanocage would selectively identify the IBP molecule in the presence of environmental pollutants.

Quantum chemical computations using both density functional theory and coupled-cluster theory methods, in conjunction with a polarizable continuum model for treatment of structures in solution, were carried out on a series of small water anions [(H2O)n]•־, n = 2, 3, 4, 5, and 16. Location of the excess electron was probed from a partition of electron densities using ELF and AIM techniques. For each size n of the [(H2O)n]•־ system, two distinct structural motifs are identified: a classical water radical anion formed by hydrogen bonds and a hydrated electron in which the excess electron is directly interacting with H atoms. Both motifs have comparable energy content and likely coexist in aqueous solution.

Results of structural and thermochemical calculations involving boronic acid, HB(OH)2, and the corresponding ethylene glycol ester, HB(-O-CH2-CH2-O-), in the presence of explicit NH3 and/or H2O molecules are reported. Calculations were performed in a polarizable continuum model (PCM) water solution and in the gas phase using density functional theory (DFT) and second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) with the Dunning-Woon aug-cc-pVTZ basis set. Different classes of local minima on the HB(OH)2·NH3·H2O and HB(-O-CH2-CH2-O-)·NH3·H2O potential energy surfaces (PESs) in PCM water solution have been identified: (1) structures with a N→B dative bond, [H3N→BH(OH)2]·H2O, and [H3N→B(H)(-O-CH2-CH2-O-)]·H2O, where the H2O is involved in hydrogen bonding; (2) water-inserted structures involving either a novel O→B dative bond, H3N·H(H)O→BH(OH)2, and H3N···H(H)O→B(H)(-O-CH2-CH2-O-) where the H2O molecule remains essentially intact or lower-energy zwitterionic arrangements in which a water H atom has been transferred to the ammonia, [H4N]+[HO-BH(OH)2]−, and [H4N]+[BH(OH)(-OCH2-CH2-O-)]−; (3) structures where both the NH3 and H2O molecules are exclusively involved in hydrogen bonding. In these simple model systems, arrangements with N→B dative bonds, and some structures with only O···H and N···H hydrogen bonds, are ca. 5–6 kcal/mol lower in energy than either of the corresponding water-inserted structures.

In this work, a comparative theoretical conformational analysis of the commercially most successful herbicide compound, glyphosate (N-phosphonomethylglycine), has been made at various quantum chemical levels of theory, in the gas phase and aqueous solution, using the integral equation-formalism polarizable continuum model (IEFPCM) and the solvation model density (SMD) approaches. The stable conformers of non-ionized (NE) and ionized or zwitterionic (ZW) neutral forms of glyphosate and the inter-conversions between them are described. Calculations revealed that several NE conformers of glyphosate exist in the gas phase but the zwitterionic form (ZW) is unstable in vacuo at all levels of theory. In aqueous solution, the stabilization of the zwitterion form of glyphosate was unable to be predicted satisfactorily within the equilibrated framework of the IEFPCM polarizable continuum model and using the standard UFF-radii cavity. However, the calculation with the density-based solvation model (SMD) was consistent with the experimental findings and led to the identification of the phosphonate zwitterionic (ZWP) structure as the global minimum energy in aqueous solution. The ZWP ⇋ NE tautomeric equilibrium between the non-ionized and zwitterionic forms of glyphosate was studied in aqueous solution at the SMD-B3LYP-D3/6-311++(2d,2p) level. Zwitterion formation in solution could occur by means of a concerted intramolecular proton transfer from the nitrogen to the oxygen of the phosphonate group. An analysis of the intermolecular mechanism shows that the addition of one water molecule favours the process either thermodynamically or kinetically. The possibility that the tautomerization process of glyphosate via a nonconcerted mechanism with zwitterion carboxylate (ZWC) as the intermediate can be excluded and the ZWP → ZWC proton transfer conversion can be a nearly barrierless process in PES and FES surfaces. comparison with similarly related biologically active systems was made.

The presence of organophosphorus compounds (OPs) in the environmental counterparts has become an important problem because of their toxicity. In this study, the photocatalytic degradation reactions of the three OPs with hydroxyl radical were investigated by both experimental and quantum chemical methods. Photocatalytic degradation kinetics of the examined organophosphorus compounds were investigated under UV-A irradiation using TiO2 as the photocatalyst. The effects of the initial concentrations on the degradation rate have been examined. There was an observable loss of OPs in the presence of TiO2 photocatalyst under UV-A at 0.2 g TiO2 per 100 mL. The quantum chemical calculations have been carried out by the density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6-31g(d) level. The reaction pathways were modelled to find the most probable mechanism for OPs with the OH radical and to determine the primary intermediates. The rate constants of the eight reaction paths were calculated by the transition state theory. Conductor-like polarizable continuum model (CPCM) was used as the solvation model with the intention of understanding the water effect. The theoretical results were in agreement with experimental ones. © 2021 Serbian Chemical Society. All rights reserved. 18,164 Acknowledgement. The authors of this research has greatfully acknowledgemented to financially support of Tekirdag Namık Kemal University Research Project with the project number of NKUBAP.01.GA.18.164.

Background and purpose: Radicals produced by Fenton and Haber-Weiss reactions play detrimental roles in our body. Some oxidized proteins as toxic configurations are identified in amyloid-β deposits. These deposits mostly occur in conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Here, we report the synthesis, evaluation of the antioxidant activity, and implementation of density functional theory (DFT) calculations of some4- [(benzo[d]thiazol-2-ylimino) methyl]phenol derivatives. The aim of this study was to provide a comparative theoretical-experimental approach to explain the antioxidant activities of the compounds. Experimental approach: Compounds were synthesized by the reaction between para hydroxybenzaldehyde and aminobenzothiazole derivatives. The scavenging activity of the compounds was evaluated. Various electronic and energetic descriptors such as high occupied molecular orbital and low unoccupied molecular orbital energy gaps, bonding dissociation enthalpy of OH bond, ionization potential, electron affinity, hardness, softness, and spin density of the radical and neutral species were calculated. DFT calculations with B3LYP hybrid functional and 6-311++ GFNx08 basis set in the polarizable continuum model were utilized to obtain these descriptors. Findings/Results: Ascorbic acid showed the best DPPH scavenging activity. However, 4d and 4c showed promising antioxidant activity. The values of EHOMO for 4c and 4d were closer to zero, thus, they showed the best scavenging activities. The computational results were in accordance with the experimental ones. The energetic descriptors indicated that the sequential proton loss-electron transfer mechanism is preferred over other mechanisms. Conclusion and implication: Antioxidant activity of 4-[(Benzo[d]thiazol-2-ylimino) methyl]phenol derivatives confirmed by experimental and theoretical documents proves them as novel antioxidants against amyloid-β based disease.

Time-dependent (TD) density functional theory (DFT) and Franck-Condon Hertzberg-Teller (FCHT) calculations of various DFT functionals [B3LYP, CAM-B3LYP, ωB97XD, and optimally tuned (OT) long-range corrected (LC)-BLYP] were performed to examine how well DFT functionals can predict the experimental absorption and fluorescence spectra of a 12-carbon nanobelt (CNB). OT-LC-BLYP reproduced the experimental absorption spectrum well in terms of the peak position and intensity in the case of using a basis set with a diffuse function, such as 6-31+G(d,p) and 6-311+G(d,p), whereas B3LYP showed a red-shift in the peak positions and CAM-B3LYP and ωB97XD, which have a long-range HF exchange, showed blue shifts. Regarding the fluorescence spectrum calculations with FCHT using 6-311+G(d,p), the OT-LC-BLYP reproduced both the peak intensities and positions closest to the experimental spectrum. B3LYP, however, showed red-shifted peaks, and ωB97XD showed blue-shifted peaks. CAM-B3LYP provided less blue-shifted peaks, but the relative peak intensities mismatched the experimental ones. Furthermore, calculations of the absorption and vibrationally resolved fluorescence spectra of 16-CNB and 24-CNB using OT-LC-BLYP/6-311+G(d,p) showed absorption and fluorescence spectra close to the experimental spectra with high accuracy. Moreover, the application of a polarizable continuum model (dichloromethane) produced a red shift in the peak positions of the absorption spectrum with increasing intensity but an increase in the peak intensities of the fluorescence calculations without shifting the peak position.

Long range-corrected (LRC) or range-separated hybrid (RSH) functionals where the long-range (LR) limit of electronic interactions is set to the exact exchange have been shown to correct the tendency of traditional density functional theory (DFT) to underestimate the frontier orbital gap. Consequently, the use of such functionals in calculating electronic excited states using linear response based time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) has been successful in correcting the tendency for underestimating the energies of charge transfer states by DFT-based calculations. More recently formulations of functionals that attenuate the LR limit to address condensed-phase effects to polarize the electronic density have been reported. In particular screened RSH (SRSH) combined with polarizable continuum model (PCM) was benchmarked successfully in reproducing the fundamental gap and charge transfer state energies of molecular systems in the condensed phase. Here we use SRSH-PCM to address triplet excited states, and show its success in obtaining correspondence of the low-lying triplet states to the singlet-triplet gap in a similar way that the fundamental orbital gap corresponds to electron removal and addition energies. Importantly, the accuracy of the SRSH-PCM in calculating triplet excitations stands on the polarization consistent framework in addressing the scalar dielectric constant and without affecting the optimal tuning by triplet energies. The prospect of even further improving the SRSH-PCM accuracy in calculating triplet states can be achieved by optimal tuning on the basis of the spin multiplicity gap.

The special pair, a bacteriochlorophyll a (BChl) dimer found at the core of bacterial reaction centers, is known to play a key role in the functionality of photosystems as a precursor to the photosynthesis process. In this paper, we analyze the inherent affinity of the special pair to rectify the intrapair photo-induced charge transfer (CT). In particular, we show that the molecular environment affects the nuclear geometry, resulting in symmetry breaking between the two possible intrapair CT processes. To this end, we study the relationships of the intrapair CT and the molecular geometry with respect to the effective dielectric constant provided by the molecular environment. We identify the special pair structural feature that breaks the symmetry between the two molecules, leading to CT rectification. Excited state energies, oscillator strengths, and electronic coupling values are obtained via time-dependent density functional theory, employing a recently developed framework based on a screened range-separated hybrid functional within a polarizable continuum model (SRSH-PCM). We analyze the rectification capability of the special pair by calculating the CT rates using a first-principles-based Fermi's golden rule approach.

In this work, the 3-D structure of the well-known opioid drug heroin in a solution was investigated. The goal was to provide a complete and detailed description of the stable conformers with their relative abundances. This knowledge is very important from the pharmaceutical and forensic point of view as it could help significantly with deeper understanding of heroin's metabolism and the development of antagonist medicines for the case of an overdose. As heroin is a chiral compound with five stereogenic centres, the methods of chiroptical spectroscopy supplemented by density functional theory (DFT) calculations were applied to study its conformations in chloroform solution. The selected chiroptical methods, namely, electronic circular dichroism (ECD) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), are inherently sensitive to the 3-D structure of small- to medium-sized chiral organic molecules. A thorough conformational analysis revealed four stable conformers of heroin in chloroform solution, where the conductor-like polarizable continuum model of the solvent was used for all the calculations. The simulated ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), ECD, and VCD spectra were compared with the experimental ones and very good agreement was found, which enabled a detailed structure description and interpretation of the spectra. Chiroptical spectroscopy in combination with DFT calculations proved to be a very sensitive tool for the analysis of the 3-D structure of heroin in a solution in contrast with conventional spectroscopic methods. Especially, the application of VCD seems to be a promising approach for monitoring structural changes, for instance, those caused by solvents or interactions with other agents.

Coordination compounds formed by flavonoid ligands are recognized as promising candidates as novel drugs with enhanced antioxidant and anticancer activity. Zn(II)-Rutin complexes have been described in the literature and distinct coordination modes proposed based on 1H NMR/MS and IR/UV-VIS experimental spectroscopic data: 1:1/1:2 (Zn(II) binding to A-C rings) and 2:1 (Zn(II) binding to A-C-B rings) stoichiometry. Aiming to clarify these experimental findings and provide some physical insights into the process of complex formation in solution, we carried out density functional theory calculations of NMR and UV-VIS spectra for 25 plausible Zn(II)-Rutin molecular structures including solvent effect using the polarizable continuum model approach. The studied complexes in this work have 1:1, 1:2, 2:1, and 3:1 metal-ligand stoichiometry for all relevant Zn(II)-Rutin configurations. The least deviation between theoretical and experimental spectroscopic data was used as an initial criterion to select the probable candidate structures. Our theoretical spectroscopic results strongly indicate that the experimentally suggested modes of coordination (1:2 and 2:1) are likely to exist in solution, supporting the two distinct experimental findings in DMSO and methanol solution, which may be seen as an interesting result. Our predicted 1:2 and 2:1 metal complexes are in agreement with the experimental stoichiometry; however, they differ from the proposed structure. Besides the prediction of the coordination site and molecular structure in solution, an important contribution of this work is the determination of the OH-C5 deprotonation state of rutin due to metal complexation at the experimental conditions (pH = 6.7 and 7.20). We found that, in the two independent synthesis of metal complexes, distinct forms of rutin (OH-C5 and O(-)-C5) are present, which are rather difficult to be assessed experimentally.

Mechanical forces play a key role in essential biological processes including cell growth, division, deformation, adhesion, migration and intra-cell interactions. The effect of mechanical forces in modulating the structure and properties of metal-occupied protein binding sites has not been fully understood. Here, by employing a combination of density functional theory (DFT) calculations and polarizable continuum model (PCM) computations applied on model metal-loaded EF-hand binding sites, we shed light on the intimate mechanism of the Mg2+/Ca2+ competition impacted by the application of mechanical stimuli. Applying mechanical force with a specific directionality and magnitude may shift the balance between the competing metal cations in favor of a given contestant depending on the composition and strength of the coordinative bonds and robustness of the metal binding site. Furthermore, the calculations help to determine the range of mechanical rupture forces typical for these structures: these range from 0.4 to 1.5 nN depending on the nature of the metal and amino acid residue. This positions the strength of the Mg2+–O and Ca2+–O coordinative bonds between that of typical covalent and hydrogen bonds. The bonds between the metal cation and the charged amino acid residue rupture at higher forces (∼1.2–1.5 nN) relative to those of their metal–noncharged counterparts which dissociate at ∼0.2–0.4 nN.

The reaction pathway of the isomerization in the process of butyl rubber bromination was proposed based on density functional theory (DFT) and MP2 calculations with the 6-31+G(d) basis set. The microstructural composition of the brominated butyl rubber was determined via proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR).The transition state of isomerization reaction was identified. The geometries of the reactant, transition state, and product structures were optimized. The effect of solvation on model compounds was simulated using the polarizable continuum model (PCM). The energy barriers for isomerization reactions were calculated with different solvents (vacuum, n-hexane, and 245/105 mL n-hexane/dichloromethane (DCM) mixture). The increase in solvent polarity decreased the activation energy and facilitated the isomerization reaction. This finding was consistent with the experimental result.

The scientific method involves validating computational theories and methods against experimental results. However, the comparison between theory and experiments is not always straightforward; in UV-visible spectroscopy, experiments provide a plot of wavelength-dependent molar extinction/attenuation coefficients (ε) while computations typically provide single-valued excitation energies and oscillator strengths (ƒ) for each band. ε and ƒ are related, but this relation is complicated by various broadening and solvation effects. We describe a protocol to fit and integrate experimental UV-visible spectra to obtain ƒexp values for absorption bands and to estimate the uncertainty in the fitting. We apply this protocol to derive 164 ƒexp values from 100 organic molecules ranging in size from 6-34 atoms. The corresponding computed oscillator strengths (ƒcomp) are obtained with time-dependent density functional theory and a polarizable continuum solvent model. By expressing experimental and computed absorption strengths using a common quantity, we directly compare ƒcomp and ƒexp. While ƒcomp and ƒexp are well correlated (linear regression R2=0. 914), ƒcomp in most cases significantly overestimates ƒexp (regression slope=1.31). The agreement between absolute ƒcomp and ƒexp values is substantially improved by accounting for a solvent refractive index factor, as suggested in some derivations in the literature. The 100 digitized UV-visible spectra are included as plain text files in the supporting information to aid in benchmarking computational or machine-learning approaches that aim to simulate realistic UV-visible absorption spectra.

Among the linear actinyl(VI/V) cations, the uranyl(V) species are particularly intriguing because they are unstable and exhibit a unique behavior to undergo H+ promoted disproportionation in aqueous solution and form stable uranyl(VI) and U(IV) complexes. This study uses density functional theory (DFT) combined with the conductor-like polarizable continuum model approach to investigate [UO2]2+/+ to [UIVO2] reduction free energies (RFEs) and explores the stability of uranyl(V) complexes in aqueous solution through computing disproportionation free energies (DFEs) for an outer-sphere electron transfer process. In addition to the aqua complex (U1), another three commonly encountered ligands such as chloride (U2), acetate (U3), and carbonate (U4) in aqueous environmental conditions are taken into account. For the U1 complex, the computed 1e- (V/IV) and 2e- (VI/IV) RFEs are in good agreement with experiments. The computed DFEs reveal that the presence of H+ is imperative for the disproportionation to take place. Although the presence of the alkali cations favors the disproportionation to some extent, they cannot fully make the reaction thermodynamically feasible. For the anionic complexes, the high negative charge does not allow for the formation of a cation-cation encounter complex due to Coulombic repulsion. Furthermore, an additional factor is the ligand exchange reaction which is also an energy-demanding step. Therefore, the current study examined the Kern-Orlemann mechanism and our results validate the mechanism based on DFT computed DFEs and propose that for the anionic complexes, an outer-sphere electron transfer is highly probable and our computed protonation free energies further support this claim.

Glycine in its neutral form can exist in the gas phase while its zwitterion form is more stable in water solution, but how many waters are actually necessary to stabilize the zwitterionic structure in the gas phase? Are the intramolecular isotropic spin spin coupling constants sensitive enough to accuse the change in the environment? or the conformer observed? These and related questions have been investigated by a computational study at the level of density functional theory employing the B3LYP functional and the 6-31++G**-J basis set. We found that at least two water molecules explicitly accounted for in the super-molecule structure are necessary to stabilize both conformers of glycine within a water polarizable continuum model. At least half of the SSCCs of both conformers are very stable to changes in the environment and at least four of them differ significantly between Neutral and Zwitterion conformation. Fil: Caputo, Maria Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Provasi, Patricio Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Modelado e Innovación Tecnológica. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Instituto de Modelado e Innovación Tecnológica; Argentina

A new fumarate bridged one-dimensional coordination polymer {[Cu4L12(μ-fumarate-κ4-O)].CH3OH}n (1) [H3L1 = 1,3-bis(5-bromosalicylideneamino)-2-propanol] has been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction technique, elemental analysis, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The crystal structure of 1 reveals that the monomeric unit is an alkoxo and phenoxo bridged tetranuclear copper(II) complex where both square planar and square pyramidal coordination environments are observed around the metal centers. Each tetranuclear unit is assembled through fumarate bridge to form a one-dimensional coordination polymer as viewed down the crystallographic c-axis. Both the gas and solution phase geometries of the asymmetric unit of 1 were optimized at singlet ground state by DFT method using B3LYP exchange-correlation functional with effective core potential (ECP) approximation. The experimental UV-Vis absorption spectrum of 1 is correlated with the result obtained from time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) coupled with the conductor-like polarizable continuum model (CPCM) algorithm. An initial electrochemical analysis of 1 has also been performed. Synopsis: This article reports the synthesis and X-ray crystal structure of a tetranuclear copper(II) complex. Fumarate ions bridge the tetranuclear units in bis(bidentate) coordination fashion to form a one-dimensional coordination polymer. To understand the electronic states DFT and TD-DFT calculations have been performed.

Recently, two new mechanistic proposals for the kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (KMO) catalyzed hydroxylation reaction of l-Kynurenine (l-Kyn) have been proposed. According to the first proposal, instead of the distal oxygen, the proximal oxygen of the hydroperoxide intermediate of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) is transferred to the substrate ring. The second study proposes that l-Kyn participates in its base form in the reaction. To address these proposals, the reaction was reconsidered with a 386 atom quantum cluster model that is based on a recent X-ray structure (PDB id: 6FOX). The computations were carried out at the UB3LYP/6-311+G(2d,2p)//UB3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level with solvation (polarizable continuum model) and dispersion (DFT-D3(BJ)) corrections. To supplement the results of the density functional theory (DFT) calculations, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the protein-substrate complex were employed. The comparison of a proximal oxygen transfer mechanism to the distal oxygen transfer mechanism revealed that the former requires too high of a barrier energy while the latter validated our previous results. According to the MD simulations, the hydroperoxy moiety does not favor an alignment that might promote the proximal oxygen transfer mechanism. In the second part of the study, hydroxylation reaction with the base form of l-Kyn was sought. Although DFT calculations confirmed a much more facile reaction with the base form of l-Kyn, a mechanism which would allow the deprotonation of the l-Kyn before the oxygen transfer could not be determined with the X-ray-based positions. A concerted mechanism with both the oxygen transfer and the deprotonation required a high barrier energy. A stepwise mechanism involving the deprotonation of l-Kyn was found, starting from an MD frame. The overall barrier of the oxygen transfer step of this model was found to be in the range of that of with neutral l-Kyn. MD simulations supported the idea of ineffectiveness of the nearby shell surrounding the utilized active site core on the deprotonation of l-Kyn.

We study the excited state absorption (ESA) properties of the four DNA bases (thymine, cytosine, adenine, and guanine) by different single reference quantum mechanical methods, i.e. equation of motion coupled cluster singles and doubles (EOM-CCSD), singles, doubles and perturbative triples (EOM-CC3), and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT), with the long-range corrected CAM-B3LYP functional. Preliminary results at the Tamm-Dancoff (TDA) CAM-B3LYP level using the maximum overlap method (MOM) are reported for Thymine. In the gas phase, the three methods predict similar One Photon Absorption (OPA) spectra, which are also consistent with the experimental results and with the most accurate computational studies available in the literature. The ESA spectra are then computed for the pp states (one for pyrimidine, two for purines) associated with the lowest energy absorption band, and for the close-lying np state. The EOM-CC3, EOM-CCSD and CAM-B3LYP methods provide similar ESA spectral patterns, which are also in qualitative agreement with literature RASPT2 results. Once validated in the gas phase, TD-CAM-B3LYP has been used to compute the ESA in chloroform, including solvent effect by the polarizable continuum model (PCM). The predicted OPA and ESA spectra in chloroform are very similar to those in the gas phase, most of the bands shifting by less than 0.1 eV, with a small increase of the intensities and a moderate destabilization of the np state. Finally, ESA spectra have been computed from the minima of the lowest energy pp state, and are consistent with the available experimental transient absorption spectra of the nucleosides in solution, providing a final validation of our computational approach.

The following review article attempts to compare the antioxidant activity of the compounds. For this purpose, density functional theory/Becke three-parameter Lee–Yang–Parr (DFT/B3LYP) methodology was carried out instead of using pharmacological methodologies because of economic benefits and high accuracy. This methodology filtrates the compounds with the lowest antioxidant activity. At first, the Koopmans’ theorem was carried out to calculate some descriptors to compare antioxidants. The energy of the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) was accepted as the best indicator, and then some studies confirmed that the highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO–LUMO) energy gap is the more precise descriptor. Although it would be better to compare spin density distribution (SDD) on the oxygen of the corresponding radical in the polarizable continuum model (PCM) to evaluate their capability to chain reaction inhibition. Next, it was mentioned that in the multi-target directed ligands (MTDLs), the antioxidant is connected to other moieties in para positions to create better antioxidants or novel hybrid compounds. Indeed, SDD was introduced as a descriptor for MTDL antioxidant effectiveness. Then, the relation between antioxidants and aromaticity was investigated. The more the aromaticity of an antioxidant, the more stable the corresponding radical is. Subsequently, in preferred antioxidant activity, it was defined that the hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) mechanism is more favored in metabolism phase I. It has been seen that the solvent model can change the antioxidant mechanism. Therefore, the solvent model is more important than the chemical structure of antioxidants, and an ideal antioxidant should be evaluated in PCM for pharmacological evaluations.

The reaction between carbon monoxide and water was studied occurring in an aerosol medium rich in methanol. This environment is plausible for the primitive and prebiotic Earth atmosphere. The chemical environment is expressed in terms of dielectric constant (e) and the chemical system was modeled employing the polarizable continuum model (PCM). The main results were acquired from calculations employing the M06-2X density functional for the electronic structure calculations and the canonical variational theory with small curvature tunneling for the chemical kinetic calculations. The rise of e affects both the thermochemistry and the kinetics of the reaction, increasing the barrier height and decreasing the rate constant for the reaction occurring at room temperature. For example, the rate constant at 300 K is 5–10× 10− 53 cm3 ⋅molecule− 1 ⋅s− 1 for low dielectric constant (e < 3) and around 2–4× 10− 53 cm3 ⋅molecule− 1 ⋅s− 1 for e between 7 and 40. Our results indicate that the e variation allows a fine tuning to the rate of the reaction.

The primary objectives of this study are to identify the initiation steps of perchloric acid (HClO4) decomposition and to validate and provide insights into the reaction pathways of O2 formation. To this end, we have performed quantum chemical calculations using the Gaussian 09 program package to identify new reaction pathways and species formed during decomposition. The thermodynamic quantities of the species, such as Gibbs free energy and enthalpy, are calculated using a double-hybrid density functional theory method, B2PLYP, with Jensen's basis set, aug-pc2. For heavy atoms, such as chlorine, the basis set is augmented by adding 2 d functions with a stride factor of 2.5. To incorporate the solvation effect, the conductor-like polarizable continuum model, which is an implicit solvation model, is used. Numerical simulations using a control-volume analysis of an experiment are also performed using the proposed mechanism. In these simulations, rates of the reactions are calculated using transition state theory, incorporating diffusion effects on the rate constants. In order to consider the nonideal behavior of a concentrated HClO4 solution, activity coefficients are used to calculate the effective concentration of acid in solution. The activity coefficient of HClO4 plays a critical role in the calculation of the induction period involved in the HClO4 decomposition. A comparison of numerically predicted O2 evolution and duration of the induction period with experimental data shows that the numerical simulation using the proposed mechanism predicts both the three-stage decomposition characteristics and the induction period observed during HClO4 decomposition, thus validating the proposed mechanism.

Here, we present a concise model that can predict the photoluminescent properties of a given compound from first principles, both within and beyond the Franck–Condon approximation. The formalism required to compute fluorescence, Internal Conversion (IC), and Inter-System Crossing (ISC) is discussed. The IC mechanism, in particular, is a difficult pathway to compute due to difficulties associated with the computation of required bosonic configurations and non-adiabatic coupling elements. Here, we offer a discussion and breakdown on how to model these pathways at the Density Functional Theory (DFT) level with respect to its computational implementation, strengths, and current limitations. The model is then used to compute the photoluminescent quantum yield (PLQY) of a number of small but important compounds: anthracene, tetracene, pentacene, diketo-pyrrolo-pyrrole (DPP), and Perylene Diimide (PDI) within a polarizable continuum model. Rate constants for fluorescence, IC, and ISC compare well for the most part with respect to experiment, despite triplet energies being overestimated to a degree. The resulting PLQYs are promising with respect to the level of theory being DFT. While we obtained a positive result for PDI within the Franck–Condon limit, the other systems require a second order correction. Recomputing quantum yields with Herzberg–Teller terms yields PLQYs of 0.19, 0.08, 0.04, 0.70, and 0.99 for anthracene, tetracene, pentacene, DPP, and PDI, respectively. Based on these results, we are confident that the presented methodology is sound with respect to the level of quantum chemistry and presents an important stepping stone in the search for a tool to predict the properties of larger coupled systems.

We report a computational study on vibronic effects in the spectroscopy, photoinduced processes and decay back to the ground state of aza[7]helicene, a helicene with an unusually high fluorescence quantum yield (QY = 0.39). In a first step, we compute and assign the absorption and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra in its full frequency range from 2.7 to 5.0 eV, accounting for nonadiabatic effects. Then we compute the quantum dynamics of the cascade of ultrafast internal conversions of the highly-excited singlet states to the lowest-energy one S1. Finally we adopt Fermi golden rule rates to compute the QY of the dye, taking into account the competition between the radiative decay and the nonradiative decays to the ground state and to the energy-accessible triplet states. We use time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT), including solvent (dichloromethane) effects within the polarizable continuum model, to parameterize a linear vibronic coupling (LVC) model involving the first lowest 12 singlet states and all the normal coordinates. Nonadiabatic spectra and internal conversions dynamics are then computed through wavepacket propagations with the Multilayer (ML) extension of the Multiconfigurational Time Dependent Hartree method (ML-MCTDH). We highlight the molecular vibrations playing a major role in determining the shape of the spectra and analyse the effect of inter-state couplings. At the same time we report a breakdown of perturbative Herzberg-Teller approach. The computed QY is in perfect agreement with experiment and allows us to ascertain that intersystem crossings are the processes limiting the fluorescence from S1. They involve the three lowest triplet states and are made effective by spin-orbit coupling and vibronic effects. This journal is