DFT, WAVEFUNCTION ANALYSES OF PROTOCATECHUALDEHYDE, A NATURAL PRODUCT

Abstract

Protocatechualdehyde (3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde) is a structurally familiar molecule. In its structure, an electron-withdrawing moiety (–CHO) and two electron donor groups (–OH) are present at neighbouring positions. A bridge and π-linker (aromatic ring) interconnect them. As a consequence, electrons may travel from the donor to the acceptor through the bridge. Gaussian 16W was employed for all investigations on the DFT/B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) basis set. MEP analysis predicted that the molecule has electrophilic and nucleophilic domains. Frontier energy gap analysis implies that the molecule is hard and stable. The NBO analysis reported the same results. The IEFPCM solvation effect was studied for MEP, Mulliken charge, FMO, and UV–Vis spectra. The shaded surface map, NCI, STM, and electron transport studies were conducted using the Multiwfn 3.8 software. The electron transport analysis results revealed that charge transfer is possible in the S0 à S4, S9, and S10 excitation states. The molecular docking study was conducted using PyRx. In silico toxicity analysis and activity predictions, along with comparisons, were performed using EPA DSS TOX and PASS, respectively