Molecular structures, spectroscopic (FT-IR, NMR, UV) studies, NBO analysis and NLO properties for tautomeric forms of 1,3-dimethyl-5-(phenylazo)-6-aminouracil by density functional method

The equilibrium geometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and UV-Vis analysis, and vibrational frequencies for the azo and hydrazone isomers of 1,3-dimethyl-5-(phenylazo)-6-aminouracil have been performed using density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP) method with 6-311G(d,p) basis set. A detailed interpretation of the vibrational spectra has been made on the basis of the calculated potential energy distribution (PED) obtained from the Vibrational Energy Distribution Analysis (VEDA4) program. The ¹H NMR chemical shifts with respect to TMS were calculated by the gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method and compared with the experimental data. Stability of the molecule arising from hyper conjugative interactions, charge delocalization has been analyzed using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. Using the TD-DFT method, electronic absorption spectra in CHCl₃ solvent of the title compound have been predicted, and good agreement is determined with the experimental one. The NLO properties such as mean polarizability (⟨α⟩), the anisotropy of the polarizability (⟨Δα⟩) and the mean first-order hyperpolarizability (⟨β⟩) were computed by using finite field method. The computed values of μ, α and β for the azo and hydrazone forms of the title molecule are 5.4717 and 3.8905 D, 2.7773×10^-23 and 2.7598×10^-23esu, and 3.4499×10-³⁰ and 6.8504×10-³⁰esu, respectively. The high β values and non-zero values of μ indicate that the title compound might be a good candidate for NLO material.

Modelling peptide-metal dication interactions: formamide-Ca2+ reactions in the gas phase

The collision induced dissociation of formamide-Ca(2+) complexes produced in the gas phase through nanoelectrospray ionization yields as main products ions [CaOH](+), [HCNH](+), [Ca(NH(2))](+), HCO(+) and [Ca(NH(3))](2+) and possibly [Ca(H(2)O)](2+) and [C,O,Ca](2+), the latter being rather minor. The mechanisms behind these fragmentation processes have been established by analyzing the topology of the potential energy surface by means of B3LYP calculations carried out with a core-correlated cc-pWCVTZ basis set. The Ca(2+) complexes formed by formamide itself and formimidic acid play a fundamental role. The former undergoes a charge separation reaction yielding [Ca(NH(2))](+) + HCO(+), and the latter undergoes the most favorable Coulomb explosion yielding [Ca-OH](+) + [HCNH](+) and is the origin of a multistep mechanism which accounts for the observed loss of water and HCN. Conversely, the other isomer of formamide, amino(hydroxyl)carbene, does not play any significant role in the unimolecular reactivity of the doubly charged molecular cation.

Modeling the interactions between peptide functions and Sr2+: formamide-Sr2+ reactions in the gas phase

The interactions between formamide, which can be considered a prototype of a peptide function, and Sr(2+) have been investigated by combining nanoelectrospray ionization/mass spectrometry techniques and G96LYP DFT calculations. For Sr an extended LANL2DZ basis set was employed, together with a 6-311+G(3df,2p) basis set expansion for the remaining atoms of the system. The observed reactivity seems to be dominated by the Coulomb explosion process yielding [SrOH](+) + [HNCH](+), which are the most intense peaks in the MS/MS spectra. Nevertheless, additional peaks corresponding to the loss of HNC and CO indicate that the association of Sr(2+) to water or to ammonia leads to long-lived doubly charged species detectable in the timescale of these experimental techniques. The topology of the calculated potential energy surface permits us to establish the mechanisms behind these processes. Although the interaction between the neutral base and Sr(2+) is essentially electrostatic, the polarization triggered by the doubly charged metal ion results in the activation of several bonds, and favors different proton transfer mechanisms required for the formation of the [SrOH](+), [SrOH(2)](2+) and [SrNH(3)](2+) products.