Theoretically describing the 17O magnetic shielding constant of biomolecular systems: uracil and 5-fluorouracil in water environment

The Importance of the Density Functional Theory Exchange-Correlation Hartree-Fock Term in Magnetic Resonance: Application to an Aqueous Environment

Within the framework of Density Functional Theory (DFT), the relevance of the term Hartree-Fock exchange (HFE) for a variety of molecular properties is a critical point. For this reason, we spend efforts to understand these relationships in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) parameters in a water solvent. This work takes advantage of the appropriate aug-cc-pVTZ-J basis set and the Minnesota family of DFT methods, which consider different portions of HFE contributions. With regard to solvent participation, the results are based on a sequential Monte Carlo/Quantum Mechanics procedure, which builds the structures of the liquid under realistic thermodynamic conditions. Compared to the accurate results of second-order polarization propagator approximation (SOPPA) and experimental data, all NMR parameters show a huge dependence on the size of the HFE contribution. For instance, the inclusion of this term in ¹J_OH and ²J_HH indirect spin-spin couplings does vary with 49.661 and 25.459 Hz, respectively. The M06-HF method accounts for 100% of HFE and better matches the σ_O and σ_H shielding constants. On the other hand, ¹J_OH and ²J_HH demand a medium contribution (54% of HFE), the best description being associated with the M06-2X method. Thus, the dependence varies regarding the phenomenology of the property in focus and the order for independent treatments. For elements that participate in hydrogen bonds simultaneously as donor and acceptor actors, the results indicate that explicit solvent molecules must be considered in the quantum mechanical calculations for better modeling of paramagnetic shielding constants.

A DFT analysis of electronic, reactivity, and NLO responses of a reactive orange dye: the role of Hartree-Fock exchange corrections

An experimental and theoretical study based on DFT/TD-DFT approximations is presented to understand the nature of electronic excitations, reactivity, and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of reactive orange 16 dye (RO16), an azo chromophore widely used in textile and pharmacological industries. The results show that the solvent has a considerable influence on the electronic properties of the material. According to experimental results, the absorption spectrum is formed by four intense transitions, which have been identified as [Formula: see text] states using TD-DFT calculations. However, the TD-DFT results reveal a weak [Formula: see text] in the low-lying spectral region. Continuum models of solvation indicate that these states suffer from bathochromic (ca. 15 nm) and hypsochromic shifts (ca. 4 nm), respectively. However, the expected blue shift for the absorption [Formula: see text] is only described using long-range or dispersion-corrected DFT methods. RO16 is classified as a strong electrophilic system, with electrophilicity ω > 1.5 eV. Concerning the nucleophilicity parameter (N), from vacuum to solvent, the environment is active and changes the nucleophilic status from strong to moderate nucleophile (2.0 ≤ N ≤ 3.0 eV). The results also suggest that all electrical constants are strongly dependent on long-range and Hartree-Fock exchange contributions, and the absence of these interactions gives results far from reality. In particular, the results for the NLO response show that the chromophore presents a potential application in this field with a low refractive index and first hyperpolarizability ca. 214 times bigger than the value usually reported for urea (β = 0.34 × 10^- 30 esu), which is a standard NLO material. Concerning the solvent effects, the results indicate that the polarizability increases [Formula: see text] esu from gas to solvent while the first hyperpolarizability is calculated as [Formula: see text] esu, ca. 180%, regarding the vacuum. The results suggest RO16 is a potential compound in NLO applications. Graphical Abstract The frontier molecular orbitals, and the inverse relation between the energy-gap (E_gap) and the first hyperpolarizability (β).