Azide-Alkyne Interactions: A Crucial Attractive Force for Their Preorganization for Topochemical Cycloaddition Reaction.

A new class of attractive intermolecular interaction between azide and ethynyl structural entities in a wide range of molecular crystals is reported. This interaction was systematically evaluated by using 11 geometrically different structural motifs that are preorganized to direct a solid-state topochemical azide-alkyne cycloaddition (TAAC) reaction. The supramolecular features of the azide-alkyne interaction were mapped by various crystallographic and quantum chemical approaches. Topological analysis shows the noticeable participation of electron density in the azide⋅⋅⋅alkyne interactions. Interestingly, reorientation of the atomic polarizabilities in vicinal azide and alkyne groups upon interaction in crystals favors soft orbital-guided TAAC reactions. Moreover, various solid-state and gas-phase energy decomposition methods of individual azide⋅⋅⋅alkyne interactions summarize that the strength (varies from -5.7 to -30.1 kJ mol-1 ) is primarily guided by the dispersion forces with a influencing contribution from the electrostatics.

Investigation of Chemical Bonding in In Situ Cryocrystallized Organometallic Liquids.

This Communication presents the crystal structure of the organometallic complexes (η4 -1,3-cyclohexadiene) iron tricarbonyl (I) and (methyl cyclopentadienyl) manganese tricarbonyl (II) which are both liquid at room temperature. The crystal structures were determined using a state-of-the-art in situ cryocrystallization technique. The bonding features were elucidated using topological analysis of charge density in the framework of quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) and theoretical charge density analysis (multipolar refinement), to decipher the metal-carbonyl, metal-olefin and metal-carbocyclic ligand interactions in these complexes. Complex I displayed a simultaneous interplay of a "synergic effect" (σ-donation and π-back-bonding in the metal and an end-on coordinated carbonyl interaction) as well as consistency with the Dewar-Chatt-Duncanson (DCD) model (metal and side-on coordinated π-ligand interactions).

Thermodynamic functions with other properties and vibrational spectra of pyrimidine ring of uracil for RNA and bio-molecule 5-aminouracil.

Vibrational spectra (Infra Red and Raman) of uracil and 5-aminouracil have been recorded as well as reproduced in solid phase for the pyrimidinal region (200-2000 cm-1) and the internal modes were analyzed especially for pyrimidine ring of bio-molecules theoretically by using the density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the different basis sets for Restricted Hartree-Fock (RHF) by employing the Gaussian-03 program. These quantum chemical calculations have been employed to yield the Mulliken atomic charges, atomic polarizability tensor (APT) charges and thermodynamic functional properties of these bio-molecules. These DFT calculations have been computed for the some important internal ring modes especially to pyrimidine ring of uracil with a substituent amino-group (NH2) at site of C5 atom on pyrimidine ring.

Salient Aspects of PBP2A-inhibition; A QSAR Study.

BACKGROUND: Inhibition of penicillin binding protein 2A (PBP2A) represents a sound drug design strategy in combatting Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Considering the urgent need for effective antimicrobials in combatting MRSA infections, we have developed a statistically robust ensemble of molecular descriptors (1, 2, & 3-D) from compounds targeting PBP2A in vivo. METHODS: 37 (training set: 26, test set: 11) PBP2A-inhibitors were submitted for descriptor generation after which an unsupervised, non-exhaustive genetic algorithm (GA) was deployed for fishing out the best descriptor subset. Assignment of descriptors to a regression model was accomplished with the Partial Least Square (PLS) algorithm. At the end, an ensemble of 30 descriptors accurately predicted the ligand bioactivity, IC50 (R = 0.9996, R2 = 0.9992, R2 a = 0.9949, SEE =, 0.2297 Q2 LOO = 0.9741). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Inferentially, we noticed that the overall efficacy of this model greatly depends on atomic polarizability and negative charge (electron) density. Besides the formula derived, the high dimensional model also offers critical insights into salient cheminformatics parameter to note during hit-to-lead PBP2A-antagonist optimization.

Characterization of fluorine-centred `F...O' σ-hole interactions in the solid state.

In the current study, the crystal structure of 1-(3-nitrophenyl)-2,2,2-trifluoroethanone (A1) and (E)-4-((4-fluorophenyl) diazenyl)phenol (A2) has been analyzed for the characterization of the presence of a `unique' and `rare' intermolecular C(sp3/sp2)-F...O contact, which has been observed to play a significant role in the crystal packing. Theoretical charge-density calculations have been performed to study the nature and strength associated with the existence of this intermolecular F...O contact, wherein the F atom is attached to an sp3-hybridized C atom in the case of A1 and to an sp2 hybridized carbon in the case of A2. The crystal packing of the former contains two `electronically different' Csp3-F...O contacts which are present across and in between the layers of molecules. In the latter case, it is characterized by the presence of a very `short' (2.708 Å) and `highly directional' (168° at ∠C4-F1...O1 and 174° at ∠C10-O1...F1) Csp2-F...O contact. According to the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) study, it is a rare example in molecular crystals. Topological features of F...O contacts in the solid state were compared with the gas-phase models. The two-dimensional and three-dimensional static deformation density obtained from theoretical multipole modeling confirm the presence of a charge depleted region on the F atoms. Minimization of the electrostatic repulsion between like charges are observed through subtle arrangements in the electronic environment in two of the short intermolecular F...O contacts. These contacts were investigated using inputs from pair energy decomposition analysis, Bader's quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM), Hirshfeld surface analysis, delocalization index, reduced density gradient (RDG) plot, electrostatic potential surface and distributed atomic polarizability. The intermolecular energy decomposition (PIXEL) and RDG-NCI (non-covalent interaction) analysis of the F...O contacts establish the interaction to be dispersive in nature. The mutual polarization of an O atom by fluorine and vice versa provides real physical insights into the role of atomic polarizability in interacting atoms in molecules in crystals.