Stabilization of glyphosate zwitterions and conformational/tautomerism mechanism in aqueous solution: insights from ab initio and density functional theory-continuum model calculations.

In this work, a comparative theoretical conformational analysis of the commercially most successful herbicide compound, glyphosate (N-phosphonomethylglycine), has been made at various quantum chemical levels of theory, in the gas phase and aqueous solution, using the integral equation-formalism polarizable continuum model (IEFPCM) and the solvation model density (SMD) approaches. The stable conformers of non-ionized (NE) and ionized or zwitterionic (ZW) neutral forms of glyphosate and the inter-conversions between them are described. Calculations revealed that several NE conformers of glyphosate exist in the gas phase but the zwitterionic form (ZW) is unstable in vacuo at all levels of theory. In aqueous solution, the stabilization of the zwitterion form of glyphosate was unable to be predicted satisfactorily within the equilibrated framework of the IEFPCM polarizable continuum model and using the standard UFF-radii cavity. However, the calculation with the density-based solvation model (SMD) was consistent with the experimental findings and led to the identification of the phosphonate zwitterionic (ZWP) structure as the global minimum energy in aqueous solution. The ZWP ⇋ NE tautomeric equilibrium between the non-ionized and zwitterionic forms of glyphosate was studied in aqueous solution at the SMD-B3LYP-D3/6-311++(2d,2p) level. Zwitterion formation in solution could occur by means of a concerted intramolecular proton transfer from the nitrogen to the oxygen of the phosphonate group. An analysis of the intermolecular mechanism shows that the addition of one water molecule favours the process either thermodynamically or kinetically. The possibility that the tautomerization process of glyphosate via a nonconcerted mechanism with zwitterion carboxylate (ZWC) as the intermediate can be excluded and the ZWP → ZWC proton transfer conversion can be a nearly barrierless process in PES and FES surfaces. comparison with similarly related biologically active systems was made.

Theoretical study of chlorophyll a hydrates formation in aqueous organic solvents.

A theoretical analysis of chlorophyll a (Chla) hydration processes in aqueous organic solvents has been carried out by means of quantum chemistry calculations. A detailed knowledge of the thermodynamics of these processes is fundamental in order to better understand the organization of chlorophyll molecules in vivo, specifically the structure of chlorophyll pairs in photosystems I and II. In the present work, we assumed a Chla model in which the phytyl chain is replaced by a methyl group. Calculations were performed at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level corrected for basis set superposition errors and dispersion interaction energy. This computational scheme was previously shown to provide data close to MP2/6-311++(2d,2p) results. Solvents effects were taken into account using either continuum (for nonpolar solvents) or discrete-continuum (for polar coordinating solvents) methods. In the latter case, we first examined the structure of Chla in rigorously dry solutions. Two types of solvents were characterized according to Mg-atom coordination: In type I solvents (acetone, acetonitrile, DMSO), Mg exhibits five-coordination, whereas in type II solvents (THF, pyridine), Mg exhibits six-coordination. Hydration processes are quite dependent on solvent nature. In nonpolar or low-polarity solvents such as cyclohexane or chloroform, hydration is always exothermic and exergonic, despite a large entropy term that strongly opposes hydration. In polar solvents of type II, hydration is quite unfavorable, and essentially no hydrates are expected in these media, except perhaps at very large water concentrations (although, in such a case, the medium cannot be simply described as an organic solvent). In polar solvents of type I, the situation is intermediate, and dihydration is favorable in some cases (acetone, acetonitrile) and unfavorable in others (DMSO). It is interesting to note that first hydration processes in coordinating solvents (of either type I or type II), where a water molecule must displace a solvent molecule coordinated to Mg, exhibit values of DeltaH > 0 and DeltaS > 0, in sharp contrast to first hydration processes in nonpolar media. The present results represent the first theoretical attempt to rationalize the large amount of experimental data on hydration and aggregation of Chla in aqueous organic media that have been accumulated over the past four decades. The data stress, in particular, the key role of Chla dihydrates, a point that has been the object of intense debate in the literature. Clearly, dihydrates are found to be more stable than monohydrates owing to a particular structure in which cooperative interactions occur between the water molecules and Chla. The calculations also explain the irregular behavior observed for Chla in aqueous THF or pyridine: In these media, Chla remains basically unhydrated because the Chla-solvent adducts are stabilized by strong dispersion interactions.