Characterization of the structural, spectroscopic, nonlinear optical, electronic properties and antioxidant activity of the N-{4’-[(E)-3-(Fluorophenyl)-1-(phenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one]}-acetamide

Abstract

The molecule N-{4’-[(E)-3-(Fluorophenyl)-1-(phenyl)-prop-2-en-1-one]} chalcone (PAAPFBA) was recently synthesized due to the growing interest in the chemistry of the chalcone. The quantum chemical calculations were carried out to make a complete theoretical characterization (structural, spectroscopy, nonlinear optical, and electronic properties) employing three Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods like B3LYP, mPW1PW91, and M06–2X at 6–311++G(d,p) basis set. After all these characterizations, the antioxidant activity was studied using the reaction with the compound DPPH in methanol solution and the mechanism was investigated theoretically. All the three DFT methods used can describe with great accuracy the PAAPFBA chalcone: the results of infrared spectroscopy and the 1H and 13C isotropic shielding demonstrate to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data. The nonlinear optical (NLO) properties show that the title chalcone can be used with great potential in NLO devices and this result is in good agreement with the Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis, which shows how the electronic density is delocalized within the molecule. Finally, the experimental data of the antioxidant activity showed a moderate rate of reaction with the DPPH molecule (50.92%) and this fact was proved by the theoretical mechanisms with the Hydrogen Atom Transfer (HAT) mechanism more favorable.