Comprehensive Theoretical Insights on Spectroscopic Characterization, Solvent Effect (Polar and Nonpolar) in Electronic behavior, Topological Insights, and Molecular Docking Prediction of Taurolidine

Abstract

In recent decades, sulfur-containing compounds have played a significant role in biological applications because of their unique biological and chemical characteristics. Taurolidine, a sulfur-containing derivative of the amino acid taurine, has been characterized theoretically utilizing Density Functional Theory (DFT) at the B3LYP approach along with a 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The impact of solvents on electronic characteristics, Molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), and Fourier Molecular Orbital (FMO) in polar (water and ethanol) and nonpolar (toluene and chloroform) has been analyzed. The bond distances of S1-C16 and S1-C17 have been simulated at 1.817 Å and observed at 1.743 and 1.739 Å, respectively. These distances are increased compared to other bond distances due to the influence of sulfur atoms. The distinctive simulated vibrational wavenumbers of taurolidine revealed peaks for SO2, CH2, CN, and NH groups. The intramolecular interactions responsible for stabilizing the molecular structure of taurolidine have been addressed using NBO analysis shows significant stabilization energy from electron-donating lone pair oxygen O6 to antibonding S2-N10 with the stabilizing energy of 19.88 KJ/mol by the transition of LP(3)- σ*. The bonding characteristics and reactive sites (electron-rich and electron-poor) have been confirmed with Mulliken and MEP analysis. The carbons (C17 and C16) emphasize the increased negative potential due to the sulfonyl (SO2) group in the ortho position. The topological insights, ELF and LOL, were spotted using Multiwfn software, highlighting the localized and delocalized electron regions within the crystal structure. In addition, molecular docking was performed to predict the antagonist activity of taurolidine against β-catenin protein, yielding a binding energy of -6.86 KJ/mol, which confirms its antiproliferative property.