Computational Study of Doping in Dopamine with Halogens to Control Optical and Spectroscopic Properties

In this research, a comprehensive study of dopamine was conducted using the theoretical first principles method due to its crucial importance as a hormone for the neurotransmission process in the animal body. Many basis sets and functionals were used for optimization of the compound to attain stability and find the appropriate energy point for the overall calculations. Then, the compound was doped with the first three members of the halogen family (fluorine, chlorine, and bromine) to analyze the effect of their presence in terms of change in their electronic properties, such as band gap and density of states, and spectroscopic parameters, such as nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared. It was found that the band gap of the system changes depending on the doping of halogens.

Antiradical Activity of Dopamine, L-DOPA, Adrenaline, and Noradrenaline in Water/Methanol and in Liposomal Systems

Catecholamines play a crucial role in signal transduction and are also expected to act as endogeneous antioxidants, but the mechanism of their antioxidant action is not fully understood. Here, we describe the impact of pH on the kinetics of reaction of four catecholamines (L-DOPA, dopamine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline) with model 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (dpph^•) in methanol/water. The increase in pH from 5.5 to 7.4 is followed by a 2 order of magnitude increase in the rate constant, e.g., for dopamine (DA) k^pH5.5 = 1,200 M^–1 s^–1 versus k^pH7.4 = 170,000 M^–1 s^–1, and such rate acceleration is attributed to a fast electron transfer from the DA anion to dpph^•. We also proved that at pH 7.0 DA breaks the peroxidation chain of methyl linoleate in liposomes assembled from neutral and negatively charged phospholipids. In contrast to no inhibitory effect during peroxidation in non-ionic emulsions, in bilayers one molecule of DA traps approximately four peroxyl radicals, with a rate constant k_inh >10³ M^–1 s^–1. Our results from a homogeneous system and bilayers prove that catecholamines act as effective, radical trapping antioxidants with activity depending on the ionization status of the catechol moiety, as well as microenvironment: organization of the lipid system (emulsions vs bilayers) and interactions of catecholamines with the biomembrane.

Experimental and theoretical study on the hydrogen bonding between dopamine hydrochloride and N,N-dimethyl formamide

The hydrogen bonding between dopamine hydrochloride (DH) and N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) were investigated by UV-visible spectra (UV-Vis), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and density functional theory (DFT). It was found that the position of UV-Vis absorption band and the anodic/cathodic peak potentials of DH were all affected by the concentrations of DH in DMF. It was suggested that hydrogen bonding were formed between DH and DMF, which was confirmed by the DFT results. AIM analyses were performed to elucidate the nature of the hydrogen bonding in the mixtures.