Four new piperine derivatives, PC1-PC4, were synthesized, and their structures were fully characterized by infrared (IR) and 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies. Quantum chemical calculations were performed using density functional theory (DFT) with the B3LYP-D3/6-31G(d,p) and 6-311+G(2d,p) basis sets. Electronic properties, such as the energy gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and some global chemical reactivity descriptors, were evaluated to study the reactivity and stability of the compounds. 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts were calculated by using the gauge-invariant atomic orbital (GIAO) method and compared with experimental values. In addition, the compounds were evaluated in an antifungal study against Candida, Trichophyton and Microsporum strains, and only PC4 showed 70% inhibition in ten tested strains, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 1.23-2.46 μmol mL-1 and a minimum fungicide concentration (MFC) ranging from 9.84-19.68 μmol mL-1, and presented a fungistatic effect.

Ten imides derived from safrole, 4a-4j, were synthesized and their structures were fully characterized by infrared (IR) spectroscopy, 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) analysis. Among the ten imides studied, eight are new. The compounds were evaluated in an in silico study and showed strong to moderate antifungal activity against various strains of Candida and Cryptococcus. In particular, compounds 4b, 4c and 4h exhibited strong antifungal activity, with minimum inhibitory concentration (MICs) between 0.17-0.73 µmol mL-1. The compound 4j exhibited antifungal activity with MIC 1.28 µmol mL-1 for all strains tested. In silico studies of the parameters of Lipinski’s rule of five indicated that these compounds are potential new drug candidates. The predict oral bioavailability can be evaluated through these parameters. In addition, a computational study helped assigning the stereochemistry of compound 4j, where the synthesized mixture is composed by two stereoisomers, 4j(1) (SRR) and 4j(2) (RSS).

In this review, we show improvements to the semiempirical quantum chemical method RM1 and present a wide range of its applications as reported by researchers of various areas, such as theoretical, organic, physical, analytical, and inorganic chemistry, as well as their interfaces with medicinal chemistry, biology, and materials science. Success of RM1 is seemingly due to its ability to predict structural, energetic, electronic and wave function dependent properties of the investigated systems, coupled with its low computational demand required to perform calculations when compared to ab initio and density functional methods. Moreover, RM1 is widely available in several computational chemistry softwares, such as MOPAC, GAMESS, Amber, Spartan, HyperChem, and AMPAC. This review describes various case studies that perhaps can be of interest to researchers who might need a more solid basis from which to expand the frontier of applicability of RM1 to even more complex problems on larger systems.

Neste artigo reportamos um estudo teórico objetivando revisitar a origem da conformação π-π stacking do (+)-acrilato de 8-fenilmentila (2) ser a preferencial. Para isso, calculamos geometrias de mínimo local, freqüências vibracionais, propriedades termoquímicas e deslocamentos químicos de RMN de ¹H para 2 e para o composto modelo acrilato de 3-fenilpropila (3) usando vários métodos ab initio e de DFT. Observamos que o funcional MPW1B95 foi o método mais apropriado em explicar os dados experimentais de RMN de ¹H nos quais mostram que a conformação stacking de 2 (2S) é mais estável que a conformação trans (2T) e a conformação stacking de 3 (3S) é menos estável que a conformação trans (3T) . Após isso, detalhes geométricos e energéticos do complexo intermolecular benzeno...metilacrilato (4) também foram estudados usando o método MPW1B95. A partir dos nossos resultados percebemos que ambos os efeitos, estérico e de dispersão, desempenham papéis chave no equilíbrio conformacional de 2.

In this paper we report a theoretical study aiming to revisit the origin of the preferential π-π stacking conformation of the (+)-8-phenylmentyl acrylate (2). For this, we have applied several DFT and ab initio methods to calculate local minimum geometries, vibrational frequencies, thermochemical properties and ¹H NMR chemical shifts for 2 and the model compound 3-phenylpropyl acrylate (3). We have observed that the MPW1B95 functional was the most suitable method to explain ¹H NMR experimental data which show the stacking conformation of 2 (2S) is more stable that trans conformation (2T) and the stacking conformation of 3 (3S) is less stable that trans conformation (3T). After that, geometrical and energetic features of the intermolecular complex benzene...methylacrylate (4) have also been studied using MPW1B95 method. From our results, we have noticed that both steric and dispersion effects play a key role in the conformational equilibrium of 2.

Cálculos semi-empíricos do tipo AM1-TDHF para a primeira hiperpolarizabilidade estática, β(0), de dezesseis compostos mesoiônicos do sistema 1,3-tiazólio-5-tiolato foram realizados. Com base nos resultados obtidos, dois novos compostos mesoiônicos, 2-(4-nitrofenil)-3-metil-4-(metilfenil)-1,3-tiazólio-5-tiolato e 2-(4-nitrofenil)-3-metil-4-(metoxifenil)-1,3-tiazólio-5-tiolato, foram sintetizados e caracterizados por métodos espectroscópicos e analíticos.

Semiempirical AM1-TDHF calculations of the static first hyperpolarizabilities, β(0), of 1,3-thiazolium-5-thiolate mesoionic derivatives were performed. Guided by these results, two new mesoionic compounds - 2-(4-nitrophenyl)-3-methyl-4-(methylphenyl)-1,3-thiazolium-5-thiolate and 2-(4-nitrophenyl)-3-methyl-4-(methoxyphenyl)-1,3-thiazolium-5-thiolate - were synthesized and characterized by analytical and spectroscopic means.

O modelo Sparkle/PM3 é parametrizado para complexos de európio (III), gadolínio (III) e térbio (III). A validação do modelo foi realizada utilizando noventa e seis complexos de Eu(III), setenta complexos de Gd(III) e quarenta e dois complexos de Tb(III); todos a partir de estruturas cristalográficas de alta qualidade, com fator R < 5%. Os erros médios absolutos, obtidos com o modelo Sparkle/PM3, considerando todas as distâncias interatômicas do tipo lantanídeo-átomo ligante, foram 0,080 Å para Eu(III), 0,063 Å para Gd(III) e 0,070 Å para Tb(III). Estes valores médios são similares aos obtidos com o modelo Sparkle/AM1 (0,082 Å, 0,061 Å, e 0,068 Å, respectivamente). Além disso, a exatidão em reproduzir o poliedro de coordenação de complexos de Eu(III), Gd(III) e Tb(III) é similar à obtida utilizando métodos ab initio com potenciais efetivos de caroço. Finalmente, com o objetivo de avaliar se as geometrias preditas com o modelo Sparkle/PM3 são confiáveis, escolhemos um dos complexos de Eu(III), BAFZEO, para o qual geramos centenas de diferentes geometrias iniciais, onde variamos de forma aleatória as distâncias e ângulos entre os ligantes e o íon Eu(III). Em seguida, todas essas geometrias iniciais foram otimizadas usando o modelo Sparkle/PM3. Como resultado, observamos uma tendência significativa onde a geometria que apresentou o menor erro médio absoluto apresentou também a energia total mais baixa, o que reforça a validade do modelo Sparkle.

The Sparkle/PM3 model is extended to europium(III), gadolinium(III), and terbium(III) complexes. The validation procedure was carried out using only high quality crystallographic structures, for a total of ninety-six Eu(III) complexes, seventy Gd(III) complexes, and forty-two Tb(III) complexes. The Sparkle/PM3 unsigned mean error, for all interatomic distances between the trivalent lanthanide ion and the ligand atoms of the first sphere of coordination, is: 0.080 Å for Eu(III); 0.063 Å for Gd(III); and 0.070 Å for Tb(III). These figures are similar to the Sparkle/AM1 ones of 0.082 Å, 0.061 Å, and 0.068 Å respectively, indicating they are all comparable parameterizations. Moreover, their accuracy is similar to what can be obtained by present-day ab initio effective core potential full geometry optimization calculations on such lanthanide complexes. Finally, we report a preliminary attempt to show that Sparkle/PM3 geometry predictions are reliable. For one of the Eu(III) complexes, BAFZEO, we created hundreds of different input geometries by randomly varying the distances and angles of the ligands to the central Eu(III) ion, which were all subsequently fully optimized. A significant trend was unveiled, indicating that more accurate local minima geometries cluster at lower total energies, thus reinforcing the validity of sparkle model calculations.