Relationship between ESIPT properties and antioxidant activities of 5-hydroxyflavone derivates

It is of great significance to study the relationship between the excited state intramolecular proton transfer(ESIPT)properties and antioxidant activities of compounds in the field of life sciences.In this work,two novel compounds 5HF-OMe and 5HF-NH2 are designed through introducing a methoxy-and amino-group into the structure of 5-hydroxyflavone(5HF)respectively.The relationship between the ESIPT reaction and antioxidant activities of the three compounds is studied via the density functional theory(DFT)and time-dependent DFT(TD-DFT)methods.The calculated potential energy curves suggest that the rate of ESIPT reaction will gradually slow down from 5HF to 5HF-OMe and 5HF-NH2.In addition,the antioxidant activities of the three compounds gradually enhance from 5HF to 5HF-OMe and 5HF-NH2,which can be seen from the calculated energy gaps and ionization potential values.Interestingly,the above results imply that the rate of ESIPT reaction has a negative relationship with the antioxidant activities of the compounds,i.e.,the slower rate of ESIPT reaction will reflect the higher antioxidant activity of the compound,which will provide valuable reference for detecting the antioxidant activity of compound via the photophysical method.

Theoretical investigation of fluorescence changes caused by methanol bridge based on ESIPT reaction

The different fluorescence behavior caused by the excited state proton transfer in 3-hydroxy-4-pyridylisoquinoline(2a)compound has been theoretically investigated.Our calculation results illustrate that the 2a monomer in tetrahydrofuran solvent would not occur proton transfer spontaneously,while the 2a complex in methanol(MeOH)solvent can undergo an asynchronous excited state intramolecular proton transfer(ESIPT)process.The result was confirmed by analyzing the related structural parameters,infrared vibration spectrum and reduced density gradient isosurfaces.Moreover,the potential curves revealed that with the bridging of single MeOH molecular the energy barrier of ESIPT was modulated effectively.It was distinctly reduced to 4.80 kcal/mol in 2a-MeOH complex from 25.01 kcal/mol in 2a monomer.Accordingly,the ESIPT process induced a fluorochromic phenomenon with the assistant of proton-bridge.The elucidation of the mechanism of solvent discoloration will contribute to the design and synthesis of fluorogenic dyes as environment-sensitive probes.

Theoretical study on the mechanism for the excited-state double proton transfer process of an asymmetric Schiff base ligand

Excited-state double proton transfer(ESDPT)in the 1-[(2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-benzylidene)-hydrazonomethyl]-naphthalen-2-ol(HYDRAVH_(2))ligand was studied by the density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory method.The analysis of frontier molecular orbitals,infrared spectra,and non-covalent interactions have crossvalidated that the asymmetric structure has an influence on the proton transfer,which makes the proton transfer ability of the two hydrogen protons different.The potential energy surfaces in both S_(0)and S_1 states were scanned with varying O-H bond lengths.The results of potential energy surface analysis adequately proved that the HYDRAVH_(2)can undergo the ESDPT process in the S_1 state and the double proton transfer process is a stepwise proton transfer mechanism.Our work can pave the way towards the design and synthesis of new molecules.