Quantum chemical, spectroscopic investigations, molecular docking and cytotoxic evaluation of 1-Methyl-indole-3-carboxaldehyde

Abstract

Abstract 1-Methyl-indole-3-carboxaldehyde (MEICA) molecule was characterized experimentally using spectroscopic techniques like FT-IR, FT-Raman and UV-Vis. The optimized molecular structure, vibrational and electronic properties of the title compound were calculated by using density functional theory (DFT) method and compared with the experimental results. The color map and contour map obtained from electron Localization Function (ELF) and Local Orbital Localizer (LOL) helps to investigate the electron delocalization in the molecule. The experimental and theoretical wavenumbers of the title molecule were assigned on the basis of potential energy distribution (PED) using VEDA 4.0 program. The charge delocalization and hyper conjugative interactions of the MEICA molecule were investigated using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. The HOMO-LUMO energy gap and related molecular properties were calculated. The electronic transitions were performed by TD-DFT calculations and validated experimentally. The Molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) contour maps and Fukui function analysis were performed to visualize the charge distribution in the molecule. The molecular docking analysis reveals that the MEICA ligand shows better inhibitory activity against CK2 which causes lung cancer. The cytotoxic study was performed against human lung cancer cell lines (A549) with IC50 value of 168 μg mL−1. Hence, the MEICA molecule can be used as a drug for the treatment of lung cancer.