Density Functional Theory and Electrochemical Studies: Structure–Efficiency Relationship on Corrosion Inhibition

Effect of Molecular Structure on the B3LYP-Computed HOMO-LUMO Gap: A Structure -Property Relationship Using Atomic Signatures

Compounds possessing a small highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) gap (E gap) are highly desirable due to their instability and reactivity, making them useful for a wide range of applications. However, the search for new organic compounds with a low E gap is an expensive endeavor due to the exponentially increasing pool of virtual compounds. Accordingly, in this study, atomic Signatures were utilized as molecular descriptors to investigate the correlation between the molecular structure and the B3LYP-computed E gap, thus aiding in the development of a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR). An easy-to-use robust model was constructed using forward-stepping multilinear regression with leave-one-out cross validation, resulting in a regression coefficient (r 2) of 0.86 and a predictability (q 2) of 0.76. The use of atomic Signatures as molecular descriptors successfully inferred correlations between different structural motifs and E gap. The atomic fragments containing π-bonds in various aromatic compounds were found to be the most significant atomic Signatures, explaining nearly 50% of the variance in the data, with regression coefficients that decreased E gap. This is attributed to π-electron delocalization, making this molecular fragment a reactive site in a molecule. Finally, an external test set was used to further evaluate the model's predictive performance. The developed QSPR can be utilized as a reliable initial screening tool to identify potential candidates possessing low E gap values.

Imidazole Compounds: Synthesis, Characterization and Application in Optical Analysis

Imidazole is a five-membered heterocyclic ring containing three carbon atoms, two nitrogen atoms, and two double bonds. Among two nitrogen atoms, one of which carries with a hydrogen atom is a pyrrole-type nitrogen atom, another is a pyridine type nitrogen atom. Hence, the imidazole ring belongs to the π electron-rich aromatic ring and can accept strong suction to the electronic group. Moreover, the nitrogen atom of the imidazole ring is coordinated with metal ions to form metal-organic frameworks. In recent years, because of imidazole compounds' unique optical properties, their applications have attracted more and more attention in optical analysis. Thus, this review has summarized the synthesis, characterization, and application with emphasis on the research progress of imidazole compounds in optical analysis, including fluorescence probe, colorimetric probe, electrochemiluminescence sensor, fiber optical sensor, surface plasmon resonance, etc. This paper will suggest the direction for the development of imidazole-containing sensors with high sensitivity and selectivity.

Multi-method evaluation of a 2-(1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl)pyrrolidine corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in HCl: combining gravimetric, electrochemical, and DFT approaches

The corrosion inhibition properties of 2-(1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl)pyrrolidine (2-TP) on mild steel in a 1 M HCl solution were investigated using weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and open circuit potential (OCP) measurements. In addition, DFT calculations were performed on 2-TP. The polarization curves revealed that 2-TP is a mixed-type inhibitor. The results indicate that 2-TP is an effective inhibitor for mild steel corrosion in a 1.0 M HCl solution, with an inhibition efficiency of 94.6% at 0.5 mM 2-TP. The study also examined the impact of temperature, revealing that the inhibition efficiency increases with an increasing concentration of 2-TP and decreases with a rise in temperature. The adsorption of the inhibitor on the mild steel surface followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, and the free energy value indicated that the adsorption of 2-TP is a spontaneous process that involves both physical and chemical adsorption mechanisms. The DFT calculations showed that the adsorption of 2-TP on the mild steel surface is mainly through the interaction of the lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen atom of the thiadiazole ring with the metal surface. The results obtained from the weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization, EIS and OCP measurements were in good agreement with each other and confirmed the effectiveness of 2-TP as a corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 1.0 M HCl solution. Overall, the study demonstrates the potential use of 2-TP as a corrosion inhibitor in acid environments.

Chemically Exfoliated Titanium Carbide MXene for Highly Sensitive Electrochemical Sensors for Detection of 4-Nitrophenols in Drinking Water

Soil and water contamination by numerous pollutants has been increasingly posing threats to food, water, agriculture, and human health. Using novel nanoscale materials to develop rapid electrochemical sensors is very promising due to the discovery of a number of new two-dimensional (2D) electronic materials. Of particular importance is 2D transition-metal carbide MXene that has been shown to possess transformative properties pertaining to its physical, chemical, and environmental characteristics, leading to their potential sensor applications. Designing electrochemical sensors using MXene has the potential to pave the way for monitoring environmental pollutants. Here, a stacked layer of chemically exfoliated MXene (Ti₃C₂T _x ) was demonstrated as an electrochemical sensor for detection of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) with high sensitivity and a low limit of detection. Successful selective exfoliation of the MAX (Ti₃AlC₂) phase of the material by chemical etching without oxidation is shown to be the key to achieving higher sensitivity and a lower detection limit. In the optimal conditions, the proposed MXene sensor electrodes were capable of detecting 4-NP in a broad concentration range from 500 nM to 100 μM with a good linear sensing range (regression fit, R = 0.995). The higher sensitivity and notable limit of detection reached about 16.35 μA μM^-1 cm^-2 and 42 nM/L, respectively, with good reproducibility and repeatability. The real-time application of the proposed MXene sensor electrodes was confirmed by testing in tap water samples with excellent recoveries of 95-99%.

A Comprehensive Study of N-Butyl-1H-Benzimidazole

Imidazole derivatives have found wide application in organic and medicinal chemistry. In particular, benzimidazoles have proven biological activity as antiviral, antimicrobial, and antitumor agents. In this work, we experimentally and theoretically investigated N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole. It has been shown that the presence of a butyl substituent in the N position does not significantly affect the conjugation and structural organization of benzimidazole. The optimized molecular parameters were performed by the DFT/B3LYP method with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. This level of theory shows excellent concurrence with the experimental data. The non-covalent interactions that existed within our compound N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole were also analyzed by the AIM, RDG, ELF, and LOL topological methods. The color shades of the ELF and LOL maps confirm the presence of bonding and non-bonding electrons in N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole. From DFT calculations, various methods such as molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), Fukui functions, Mulliken atomic charges, and frontier molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) were characterized. Furthermore, UV-Vis absorption and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis were calculated. It is shown that the experimental and theoretical spectra of N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole have a peak at 248 nm; in addition, the experimental spectrum has a peak near 295 nm. The NBO method shows that the delocalization of the aσ-electron from σ (C1-C2) is distributed into antibonding σ* (C1-C6), σ* (C1-N26), and σ* (C6-H11), which leads to stabilization energies of 4.63, 0.86, and 2.42 KJ/mol, respectively. Spectroscopic investigations of N-Butyl-1H-benzimidazole were carried out experimentally and theoretically to find FTIR vibrational spectra.

New QSPR model for prediction of corrosion inhibition using conceptual density functional theory

The relationship between structure and corrosion inhibition of a series of twenty-eight quinoline and pyridine derivatives has been established through the investigation of quantum descriptors calculated with PBE/6-311 +  + G** method. A quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) model was obtained by examining these descriptors using a genetic algorithm approximation method based on a multiple linear regression analysis. The results indicate that the efficiency of corrosion inhibitors is strongly associated with hardness (η), minimal electrostatic potential (ESP_min), and volume (V) descriptors. Furthermore, the validity of the proposed model is corroborated by an adsorption study on an iron surface Fe(110).

Corrosion Inhibition of Mild Steel in Hydrochloric Acid Environment Using Terephthaldehyde Based on Schiff Base: Gravimetric, Thermodynamic, and Computational Studies

Using traditional weight-loss tests, as well as different electrochemical techniques (potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy), we investigated the corrosion-inhibition performance of 2,2′-(1,4-phenylenebis(methanylylidene)) bis(N-(3-methoxyphenyl) hydrazinecarbothioamide) (PMBMH) as an inhibitor for mild steel in a 1 M hydrochloric acid solution. The maximum protection efficacy of 0.0005 M of PMBMH was 95%. Due to the creation of a protective adsorption layer instead of the adsorbed H2O molecules and acidic chloride ions, the existence of the investigated inhibitor reduced the corrosion rate and increased the inhibitory efficacy. The inhibition efficiency increased as the inhibitor concentration increased, but it decreased as the temperature increased. The PMBMH adsorption mode followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, with high adsorption-inhibition activity. Furthermore, the value of the ∆Gadso indicated that PMBMH contributed to the physical and chemical adsorption onto the mild-steel surface. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) helped in the calculation of the quantum chemical parameters for finding the correlation between the inhibition activity and the molecular structure. The experimental and theoretical findings in this investigation are in good agreement.

Synthesis, combined theoretical and spectral characterization of some new 1,3,5 triazine compounds, and their in vitro biological analysis

New N-heterocyclic compounds with a 1,3,5 triazine core were synthesized by a nucleophilic substitution reaction.

Designing of Inorganic Al12N12 Nanocluster with Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn Metals for Efficient Hydrogen Storage Materials

Hydrogen is considered as one of the attractive environmentally friendly materials with zero carbon emission. Hydrogen storage is still challenging for its use in various energy applications. That’s why hydrogen gained more and more attention to become a major fuel of today’s energy consumption. Therefore, nowadays, hydrogen storage materials are under extensive research. Herein, efforts are being devoted to design efficient systems which could be used for future hydrogen storage purposes. To this end, we have employed density functional theory (DFT) to optimize the geometries of the designed inorganic Al[Formula: see text]N[Formula: see text] nanoclusters with transition metals (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn). Various positions of metal encapsulated Al[Formula: see text]N[Formula: see text] are examined for efficient hydrogen adsorption. After adsorption of H2 on late transition metals encapsulated Al[Formula: see text]N[Formula: see text] nanocluster, different geometric parameters like frontier molecular orbitals, adsorption energies and nature bonding orbitals have been performed for exploring the potential of metal encapsulated for hydrogen adsorption. Moreover, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) analysis was also performed in order to explore the different charge separation upon H2 adsorption on metals encapsulated Al[Formula: see text]N[Formula: see text] nanoclusters. Also, global indices of reactivity like ionization potential, electron affinity, electrophilic index, chemical softness and chemical hardness were also examined by using DFT. The adsorption energy results suggested encapsulation of late transition metals in Al[Formula: see text]N[Formula: see text] nanocage efficiently enhancing the adsorption capability of Al[Formula: see text]N[Formula: see text] for hydrogen adsorption. Results of all analysis suggested that our designed systems are efficient candidates for hydrogen adsorption. Thus, we recommended a novel kind of systems for hydrogen storage materials.

A Study of 1-Benzyl-3-phenyl-2-thiourea as an Effective Steel Corrosion Inhibitor in 1.0 M HCl Solution

1-Benzyl-3-phenyl-2-thiourea (BPTU) was studied as a steel corrosion inhibitor in 1.0 M HCl solution. Experimental methods were conducted including potentiodynamic polarization measurement (PPM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Quantum calculations were performed at B3LYP/6-311G(d,p). Hexamethylenetetramine (URO) was selected for comparison with BPTU. The results showed that BPTU with the concentration of 2 × 10−4 M and at the temperature of 30°C could protect the steel surface with the highest inhibition efficiency of 94.99% and 94.30% according to EIS and PPM, respectively. High temperature decreased BPTU’s ability to inhibit the steel corrosion. The adsorption of BPTU on the steel surface is followed by the modified Langmuir isotherm. Quantum chemical calculations showed that the thiourea functional group is the main adsorption center of BPTU. The experimental results are completely consistent with theoretical calculations.

Mathematical Models Generated for the Prediction of Corrosion Inhibition Using Different Theoretical Chemistry Simulations

The use of corrosion inhibitors is an important method to retard the process of metallic attack by corrosion. The construction of mathematical models from theoretical-computational and experimental data obtained for different molecules is one of the most attractive alternatives in the analysis of corrosion prevention, whose objective is to define those molecular characteristics that are common in high-performance corrosion inhibitors. This review includes data of corrosion inhibitors evaluated in different media, the most commonly studied molecular descriptors, and some examples of mathematical models generated by different researchers.

Coupling of chemical, electrochemical and theoretical approach to study the corrosion inhibition of mild steel by new quinoxaline compounds in 1 M HCl

The corrosion inhibition displays of two quinoxaline derivatives, on the corrosion of M-steel (M-steel) in 1 M HCl was studied by gravimetric, electrochemical, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), functional density theory (DFT) and molecular dynamic simulation (MD). The inhibitory efficacy increases with decreasing temperature and increases with inhibitor concentration and reached to 96 % (NSQN) and 92 % (CSQN) at 303 K and the optimum concentration (1×10-3 M). Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopic analyses confirmed the presence of chemical interactions between the inhibitors and MS surface. The adsorption of NSQN & CSQN on the metallic surface obeys the Langmuir isotherm. A potentiodynamic polarization study confirmed that the inhibitors are of mixed-kind inhibitors. Theoretical computation (DFT) and molecular dynamics simulation (MD) are utilized to understand the mechanism of inhibition.

Anticancer SAR establishment and novel accruing signal transduction model of drug action using biscoumarin scaffold

In this paper, we have established methylenebis (4-hydroxy-2H-chromen-2-one) as a promising anticancer scaffold with kinesin spindle protein (KSP) inhibitory activity under malignant condition. A series of biscoumarin derivatives (MN1 to MN30) with different substituent were synthesized, and their anticancer activity was explored. Six biscoumarin derivatives that were found active were further selected to formulate organic nanoparticles (ONPs). Anticancer activity of both the forms (viz conventional and ONPs) was compared. MN30 was found most potent whereby MN10 showed good anticancer activity in both, i.e., conventional and ONP form; the structural activity relationship (SAR) study has been established. Computational investigation revealed biscoumarin scaffold as a suitable pharmacophore to bind against KSP protein. Molecular dynamics simulation studies revealed protein-ligand stability and dynamic behavior of biscoumarin-KSP complex. Finally, accruing signal transduction model was formulated to explain the observed MTT trend of conventional and ONP form. The model seems useful towards solving population specific varied results of chemotherapeutic agents. According to the model, MN10 and MN30 derivatives have good pharmacodynamics inertia and therefore, both the molecules were able to provide dose-dependent cytotoxic results.

Effect of the Structure and Temperature on Corrosion Inhibition of Thiourea Derivatives in 1.0 M HCl Solution

The corrosion inhibition ability of 1-phenyl-2-thiourea (PTU) and 1,3-diisopropyl-2-thiourea (ITU) for mild steel in 1.0 M hydrochloric was studied by using the potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), quantum chemical calculations, and Monte Carlo simulations. Conditions which influence the capacity of corrosion inhibition including concentration, structure of thiourea derivatives, and environment temperature were taken into investigation. The highest inhibition efficiencies of PTU and ITU are 98.96 and 92.65% at a concentration of 5 × 10^-3 M at 60 °C. In fact, corrosion inhibition ability of PTU is better than that of ITU in acidic solution due to the presence of the benzene ring of PTU. EIS data are very well correlated with PDP results. In addition, the higher inhibition performance with enhancing temperature and the values of ΔG ⁰ indicated that PTU and ITU participate in chemical adsorption on the metal surface. Their adsorption process on the metal surface follow the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Both experimental and theoretical results in this study are in good agreement.

A Machine Learning-Based QSAR Model for Benzimidazole Derivatives as Corrosion Inhibitors by Incorporating Comprehensive Feature Selection

BACKGROUND

Computational prediction of inhibition efficiency (IE) for inhibitor molecules is a crucial supplementary way to design novel molecules that can efficiently inhibit corrosion onto metallic surfaces.

PURPOSE

Here we are dedicated to developing a new machine learning-based predictor for the inhibition efficiency (IE) of benzimidazole derivatives.

METHODS

First, a comprehensively numerical representation was given on inhibitor molecules from all aspects of energy, electronic, topological, physicochemical and spatial properties based on 3-D structures and 150 valid structural descriptors were obtained. Then, a thorough investigation of these structural descriptors was implemented. The multicollinearity-based clustering analysis was performed to remove the linear correlated feature variables, so 47 feature clusters were produced. Meanwhile, Gini importance by random forest (RF) was used to further measure the contributions of the descriptors in each cluster and 47 non-linear descriptors were selected with the highest Gini importance score in the corresponding cluster. Further, considering the limited number of available inhibitors, different feature subsets were constructed according to the Gini importance score ranking list of 47 descriptors.

RESULTS

Finally, support vector machine (SVM) models based on different feature subsets were tested by leave-one-out cross validation. Through comparisons, the optimal SVM model with the top 11 descriptors was achieved based on Poly kernel. This model yields a promising performance with the correlation coefficient (R) and root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.9589 and 4.45, respectively, which indicates that the method proposed by us gives the best performance for the current data.

CONCLUSION

Based on our model, 6 new benzimidazole molecules were designed and their IE values predicted by this model indicate that two of them have high potential as outstanding corrosion inhibitors.

A new computational model for the prediction of toxicity of phosphonate derivatives using QSPR

Structural and electronic properties of a series of 25 phosphonate derivatives were analyzed applying density functional theory, with the exchange-correlation functional PBEPBE in combination with the 6-311++G** basis set for all atoms. The chemical reactivity of these derivatives has been interpreted using quantum descriptors such as frontier molecular orbitals (HOMO, LUMO), Hirshfeld charges, molecular electrostatic potential, and the dual descriptor [[Formula: see text]]. These descriptors are directly related to experimental median lethal dose ([Formula: see text], expressed as its decimal logarithm [[Formula: see text]([Formula: see text]] through a multiple linear regression equation. The proposed model predicts the toxicity of phosphonates in function of the volume (V), the load of the most electronegative atom of the molecule (q), and the eigenvalue of the molecular orbital HOMO ([Formula: see text]. The obtained values in the internal validation of the model are: [Formula: see text]%, [Formula: see text]%, [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text]%. The toxicity of nine phosphonate derivatives used as test molecules was adequately predicted by the model. The theoretical results indicate that the oxygen atom of the O=P group plays an important role in the interaction mechanism between the phosphonate and the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, inhibiting the removal of the proton of the ser-200 residue by the his-440 residue.

The novel iminium surfactant p-benzylidene benzyldodecyl iminium chloride as a corrosion inhibitor for plain carbon steel in 1 M HCl: electrochemical and DFT evaluation

The iminium surfactantp-benzylidene benzyldodecyl iminium chloride was synthesized, characterized and evaluated as a novel corrosion inhibitor for plain carbon steel in 1 M HCl solution at 30, 40, 50 and 60 °C.