Conformations and Vibrational Frequencies of a Precursor of Benzovesamicol Analogues Studied by Density Functional Theories

Conformations and vibrational frequencies of the racemic (2RS,3RS)-5-amino-3-(4-phenylpiperazin-1-yl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalen-2-ol-(I) [(2RS,3RS)-(I)], a precursor of benzovesamicol analogues, have been carried out using various DFT methods (M06-2X, B3LYP, B3PW91, PBEPBE, LSDA, and B3P86) with basis sets of 6-31G(d), 6-31+G(d,p), 6-311+G(d,p), 6-311++G(d,p), cc-pVTZ, and TZVP. The LSDA/6-31G(d) level of theory shows the best performance in reproducing the X-ray powder structure. However, the PBEPBE/cc-pVTZ level of theory is the best method to predict the vibrational frequencies of (2RS,3RS)-(I). The potential energy surfaces of racemic pairs (2RS,3RS)-(I) and -(II) are obtained at the LSDA/6-31G(d) level of theory in the gas phase and in water. The results indicate that (2RS,3RS)-(I) are more stable by ~0.75 kcal/mol in energy than (2RS,3RS)-(II) in water, whereas conformer AIIg and BIIg are more stable by ~0.04 kcal/mol than AIg in gas phase. In particular, the hydrogen bond distances between the N of piperazine and the OH of tetrahydronaphthalen become longer in gas, compared with those in the water phase. Vibrational frequencies calculated at the PBEPBE/cc-pVTZ level of theory in the gas phase are larger than those in water, whereas their intensities in the gas phase are weaker than those in water.