TITLE:
Computational Analysis of a Series of Chlorinated Chalcone Derivatives
AUTHORS:
Bradley O. Ashburn
KEYWORDS:
Density Functional Theory, Computational Analysis, In-Silico, Chalcone
JOURNAL NAME:
Computational Chemistry,
Vol.7 No.4,
October
16,
2019
ABSTRACT: A
systematic conceptual density functional theory (DFT) analysis was performed on
a series of chlorinated chalcones to study the effect of electron distribution
on antimicrobial activity. In our previous work, a series of 16 chlorinated
chalcones were synthesized to determine the antimicrobial effects of varying
the location of the halogen substituent on each aromatic ring of the chalcone. Herein is reported a DFT investigation of
those 16 chalcones and a comparison of quantum chemical properties to their
antimicrobial activity. DFT global chemical
reactivity descriptors (chemical hardness/softness, chemical potential/electronegativity,
and electrophilicity) and local reactivity descriptors (Fukui functions and
dual descriptor) were calculated for all compounds using Spartan’18 software. All calculations were carried out
at the B3LYP/6-31G* level of theory. Reactivity analysis of the Fukui dual
descriptor calculations reveals sites of nucleophilic and electrophilic
attack. These in-silico results provide a foundation for further
synthetic optimization of the chalcone skeleton to serve as novel
antimicrobial agents.