Developing new derivatives of 3‐X‐4‐hydroxy‐2(1H)‐quinolone as quinoline‐based chemosensors for detecting fluoride: Theoretical study on nucleophilicity and hydrogen‐bonding via various analyses.

Thermodynamic and electronic features of new derivatives of 3‐X‐4‐hydroxy‐2(1H)‐quinolone (X = H, OH, OMe, NH2, NMe2, Me, NHMe, F, Cl, CN, CF3, NO2, CCl3, and COH; 1–14) are investigated, at the B3LYP/6‐311++G** level of theory. Structures with electron‐donating groups (EDGs) show higher values of nucleophilicity (N) than those of electron‐withdrawing groups (EWGs), which are proved via Fukui functions. To determine the sensing ability of 1–14, fluoride (F) as an important industrial, chemical, and biological anion is complexed to the 1–14. All 1–14 establish the strong hydrogen bonding with F, which is verified by various analyses including natural bond orbital (NBO), atoms in molecules (AIM), atomic dipole moment corrected Hirshfeld charges (ADCH), and non‐covalent interaction (NCI). The excitation state study provides the noteworthy results of the charge transfer (CT), natural transition orbital (NTO), and the UV‐Vis spectrum. The obtained outcomes promise new series of quinoline‐based chemosensors (QBCs) to detect F. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]