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MP2(FULL)/6-311++G** calculations are performed on the cation-pi complexes of Li+ and Mg2+ with the pi-face of linear (ethylene, butadiene, hexatriene, and octatetraene) and cyclic (benzene, naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene and naphthacene) unsaturated hydrocarbons. The interaction energy is found to increase systematically as the size of the pi-system increases. The higher interaction energy is in good correlation with the extent of charge transfer. The increase in the interaction energy is more dramatic in the case of acyclic systems. The computations reveal that larger pi-systems tend to have higher complexation energy with the metal ions, which will have important implications in our understanding of the structural and functional aspects of metal binding.

Quantum chemical calculations are performed to gauge the effect of cation-pi and hydrogen bonding interactions on each other. M-phenol-acceptor (M = Li (+) and Mg (2+); acceptor = H(2)O, HCOOH, HCN, CH(3)OH, HCONH(2) and NH(3)) is taken as a model ternary system that exhibits the cation-pi and hydrogen bonding interactions. Cooperativity is quantified and the computed positive cooperativity between cation-pi and hydrogen bonding interactions is rationalized through reduced variational space (RVS) and charge analyses.

Quantum chemistry calculations reveal that the subtle pi-pi interactions, usually in the range 2-4 kcal/mol, will become substantially significant, from 6 to 17 kcal/mol, in the presence of metal ion. The metal ions have higher affinity toward a pi-pi dimer compared to a single pi-moiety. Considering the widespread occurrence of cation-pi-pi motifs in chemistry and biology, as evident from the database analysis, we propose that the two key noncovalent forces, which govern the macromolecular structure, cation-pi and pi-pi, work in concert.

An exhaustive computational study at the M05-2X/cc-pVDZ level which explores the binding possibilities of cations (Li(+), Na(+), K(+) and Cu(+)) to the concave and convex sides of the hub and rim rings of prototypical buckybowls, sumanene (C(21)H(12)) and corannulene (C(20)H(10)), has been carried out. Five distinct minima on the potential energy surface of sumanene and four on the potential energy surface of corannulene were identified. The complex where the metal ion binds to the convex side of the 6-membered rim ring is adjudged as the most stable complex for both the bowls considered. The cation-π interaction energies of buckybowls are compared with model systems such as benzene, cyclopentadiene, indene and coronene. Energy decomposition analysis has also been performed to delineate the contribution from various components contributing to the cation-π binding strength.

Cation interactions with π-systems are a problem of outstanding contemporary interest and the nature of these interactions seems to be quite different for transition and main group metal ions. In this paper, we have systematically analyzed the contrast in the bonding of Cu(+) and main group metal ions. The molecular structures and energetics of the complexes formed by various alkenes (A = C(n)H(2n), n = 2-6; C(n)H(2n- 2), n = 3-8 and C(n)H(2n + 2), n = 5-10) and metal ions (M = Li(+), Na(+), K(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Cu(+) and Zn(2+)) are investigated by employing ab initio post Hartree-Fock (MP2/6-311++G**) calculations and are reported in the current study. The study, which also aims to evaluate the effect of the size of the alkyl portion attached to the π-system on the complexation energy, indicates a linear relationship between the two. The decreasing order of complexation energy with various metal ion-alkene complexes follows the order Zn(2+)-A > Mg(2+)-A > Ca(2+)-A > Cu(+)-A > Li(+)-A > Na(+)-A > K(+)-A. The increased charge transfer and the electron density at (3,-1) intermolecular bond critical point corroborates well with the size of the π-system and the complexation energy. The observed deviation from the linear dependency of the Cu(+)-A complexes is attributed to the dπ→π* back bonding interaction. An energy decomposition analysis via the reduced variational space (RVS) procedure was also carried out to analyze which component among polarization, charge transfer, coulomb and exchange repulsion contributes to the increase in the complexation energy. The RVS results suggest that the polarization component significantly contributes to the increase in the complexation energy when the alkene size increases.

The effect of basis set superposition error (BSSE) on the structure and energy of benzene, naphthalene, corannulene, and sumanene dimer has been analyzed. MP2 method was chosen and the effect is estimated using 6-31G, 6-31G(d), 6-311þG(d), cc-pVDZ, and cc-pVTZ basis sets. The model calculations on benzene dimer indicate that the impact of BSSE on the equilibrium geometry of p-stacked dimers appears to be quite significant. Calculations on larger molecular dimers such as the dimers of naphthalene, corannulene, and sumanene are also studied. The practical implication of the current observation on modeling the macromolecular structure is discussed.

The structure and stability of various conformations of L-phenylalanine (PheN) and its zwitterions (PheZ), along with their ionized counterparts, cation (PheC) and anion (PheA), generated by adding and removing a proton respectively, have been investigated using first principle calculations in vacuum and in solution. This is followed by an extensive study on various possible dimer (PheD) conformations, which are noncovalently bound units without a peptide bond. This study results in 52, 31, 12, 9, and 11 minimum energy structures on the potential energy surfaces of PheD, PheN, PheC, PheA, and PheZ, respectively. Several important nonbonded interactions such as hydrogen bonds, NH-π, CH-π, OH-π, and π-π interactions, which impart stability to the monomeric and dimeric units, have been analyzed. The capability and strength of the nonbonded interactions drastically changing the conformational orientations of monomeric units has been illustrated.