• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.508-514
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• 2006

In this study, we have performed ab initio computer simulations to investigate the conformational and complexation characteristics of the trimethyl ether of p-tert-butylmonodeoxycalix[4]arene (6) with a potassium ion. The structures of different conformers of 6 and their potassium complexes were optimized by using ab initio RHF/6-31G and B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) methods. The relative stability of the various conformers of the uncomplexed 6 is in following order: cone (most stable) > 1-partial-cone ~ 2i-partial-cone > 2-partial-cone ~ 1,3-alternate > 3i-partial-cone. However, the relative stability of the conformational complexes of 6 with $K^+$ is in the following order: 2-partial cone ~ 1,3-alternate > cone > 3-partial cone > 1-partial cone (least stable). The highest binding strengths of 2-partial-cone and 1,3-alternate complexes originate from two strong cation-$\pi$ interactions and two strong cation-oxygen interactions in the complex of 6+$K^+$. Due to the cation-$\pi$ interactions, the calculated C-C bond distances in the arenes of the $K^+$-complexes are about 0.0048 $\AA$ longer than the values of their isolated hosts.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.837-845
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• 2002

Based on ab initio calculations at the MP2(FULL)/6-31+G**//RHF/6-31G** level, we compare the energetic and mechanistic features of a model reaction for catalytic action of Δ?-3-ketosteroid isomerase (KSL,E.C.5.3,3.1) with those of a corresponding nonenzymatic reaction in aqueous solution. The results show that the two catalytic acid residues,Tyr14 and Asp99, can lower the free energy of activation by 8.6kcal/mol, which is in good agreement with the experimentally predicted~9 kcal/mol,contribution of electrophilic catalyses to the whole enzymatic rate enhancement. The dienolate intermediate formed by proton transfer from the substrate carbon acid to the catalytic base residue (Asp38) ins predicted to be stabilized by 12.0 kcal/mol in the enzymatic reaction, making its formation thermodynamically favorable. It has been argued that enzymes catalyzing the reactions of carbon acids should resolve the thermodynamic problem of stabilizing the enolate intermediate as well as the kinetic porblem of lowering the free energy of activation for porton abstraction. We find that KSI can successfully overcome the thermodynamic difficulty ingerent in the nonenzymatic reaction through the electrophilic catalyses of the two acid residues. Owing to the stabilization of dienolate intermediate, the reketonization step could influence the overall reaction rate more significantly in the KSI- catalyzed reaction than in the nonenzymatic reaction, further supporting the previous experimental findings. However, the electrophilic catalyses alone cannot account for the whole catalygic capability (12-13 kcal/mol), confiming the earlier experimental implications for the invement of additional catalytic components. The present computational study indicates clearly how catalytic residues of KSI resolve the fundamental problems associated with the entropic penalty for forming the rate-limiting transition state and its destabilization in the bulk solvation environment.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.205-213
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• 2009

This study reports on the geometry optimizations and electronic structure calculations for methyl pyropheophorbide (MPPa), tropolonyl methyl pyropheophorbides (TMPPa, ITMPPa), and cationic tropolonyl methyl pyropheophorbides ($TMPPa^+{{\cdot}BF_4}^-,\;ITMPPa^+{{\cdot}BF_4}^-,\;TMPPa^+,\;and\;ITMPPa^+$) using Local Spin Density Approximation (LSDA/ 6-31G*) and the Restricted Hatree-Fock (RHF/6-31G*) level theory. From the calculated results, we found that substituted cationic tropolonyl groups have larger structural effects than those of substituted neutral tropolonyl groups. The order of structural change effects is $ITMPPa^+ > ITMPPa^+{{\cdot}BF_4}^-$ > ITMPPa, as a result of the isopropyl group. Because it is an electron-releasing group, the substituted isopropyl group electronic effect on a 3-position tropolone increases the Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital and Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital (HOMO-LUMO) energy gap. It was constituted that the larger the cationic characters of these photosensitizers, the smaller the HOMOLUMO band gaps are. The orbital energies of the cationic systems and the ions are stronger than those of a neutral system because of a strong electrostatic interaction. However, this stabilization of orbital energies are counteracted by the distortion of chlorin macrocycle, which results in a large destabilization of chlorin-based compound HOMOs and smaller destabilization of LUMOs as shown in TMPPa (ITMPPa), $TMPPa^+{{\cdot}BF_4}^- (ITMPPa^+{{\cdot}BF_4}^-),\;and\;TMPPa^+\;(ITMPPa^+)$ of Figure 6 and Table 6-7. These results are in reasonable agreement with normal-coordinate structural decomposition (NSD) results. The HOMO-LUMO gap is an important factor to consider in the development of photodynamic therapy (PDT).