Conformer selective monohydrated clusters of 1,2,3,4 –tetrahydroisoquinoline in S0: I-Potential energy surface studies, vibrational signatures and NBO analysis

Abstract

The global minima in the potential energy surface of 1, 2, 3, 4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ):(H2O) prefer the twisted equatorial orientation of the NH group. It is characterized by a strong OH⋅⋅⋅N and a weak O-H⋅⋅⋅π hydrogen bonds. The computations at the ab initio level and DFT methods with M06–2X and ωB97X-D functionals generated consistent results. The monohydrate with the axial orientation of NH having a single OH⋅⋅⋅N bond in the twisted configuration of THIQ is higher by 240 ± 40 cm−1. The N⋅⋅⋅H bond length is smaller in the latter. All the clusters are located in the potential energy surface of THIQ :(H2O) drawn with the variation of the dihedral angles of the saturated ring of THIQ. Various kinds of hydrogen bonds are observed. Binding energy of each structure is computed incorporating BSSE corrections. Interestingly, the largest of them correspond to a conformer of THIQ, where it was a transition state in the bare molecule. The vibrational analysis of the clusters indicates the reassignment of a number of bands in the observed IR spectra. The red-shifts observed in the different stretching modes of water in the two lowest energy clusters are suitably explained. This is further verified from NBO computations. The changes in s-character, NBO energies and OH bond lengths with the variation of hydrogen bond distances clearly signify the dominant nature of hyperconjugation mechanism. The natures of each OH bonds of water are investigated thoroughly. The bond which is not taking part in hydrogen bonding shows some apparently unexpected behaviors. HOMO and LUMO plots and their energy differences are employed to qualitatively explain the experimental results observed earlier. Changes in Molecular Electrostatic Potentials (MEP) on cluster formation are explained and confirm our computations. Maximum hardness principle (MHP) is followed by the most stable monohydrate only. Hardness values display a certain arrangement depending on the type of hydrogen bonding sites. We suggest further experiments to confirm our key observations.