Study of new carbonitrile as an anti-muscular dystrophy agent: Crystal, vibrational spectroscopy, molecular docking, electronic and intermolecular interaction investigations by the DFT method

Abstract

Muscular dystrophy, a genetically induced and highly lethal disease, necessitates urgent curative solutions. Many therapeutic drugs for this condition incorporate heterocyclic compounds. This study presents the synthesis, spectral analysis (FT-IR, 1HNMR , 13CNMR , HSQC, Mass), X-ray crystallography, molecular structure examination, electronic properties, and in-silico investigations of 3-((4-nitrophenyl)(p-tolylamino)methyl)-1H-indole-5-carbonitrile (TNIC) as a potent anti-muscular dystrophy drug. Density function theory (DFT) at the B3LYP-D3(BJ)/6-311++ (2d, 2p) level provided geometric and reactivity parameters. Computational studies explored natural bond orbitals, nonlinear optics properties, frontier molecular orbitals, quantum descriptors, and molecular electrostatic potential. Calculated wavelengths closely matched experimental values for TNIC. Molecular docking results indicated anti-muscle dystrophy effects against muscle dystrophy proteins (2VD5 and 2KKQ) with binding energies of −8.5 kcal/mol and −8.2 kcal/mol, surpassing the standard drug Deflazacort. This study highlights TNIC's significant biological activity against muscular dystrophy.