The crystal structure of the Cu(II) complex with Vitamin B(13) (orotic acid), cis-[Cu(oro)(NH(3))(2)] has revealed the presence of unusual, noncovalent pi-type interaction between the chelated Cu(II) ion and the C horizontal lineC bond of the uracilate ring [Michalska et al. Polyhedron 2007, 26, 4303]. In this work, the origin and strength of this interaction is thoroughly investigated. Comprehensive studies of the molecular structures and vibrational spectra of the title complex have been performed by using the unrestricted density functional theory methods, B3LYP, and the newly developed M05-2X functional. Calculations at the UMP2 level were also carried out for comparison. A variety of basis sets have been employed in the DFT calculations, including aug-cc-pVTZ, D95V(d,p), SDD, and LanL2DZ. The (63)Cu/(65)Cu isotope substitution technique was applied to identify the copper-ligand vibrations in the infrared spectra. The clear-cut assignment of all the bands in the FT-IR and Raman spectra of the title complex has been made on the basis of the calculated potential energy distribution, PED. It is shown that an extremely intense band at 1210 cm(-1) in the Raman spectrum of cis-[Cu(oro)(NH(3))(2)] is diagnostic for the N-1 deprotonation of the uracilate ring and coordination to the copper(II) ion. The B3LYP functional performs better than M05-2X in predicting vibrational frequencies of this complex in the solid state. Intermolecular interactions in crystal were modeled by the supramolecular system consisting of cis-[Cu(oro)(NH(3))(2)], ethylene (above), and formaldehyde (below the copper coordination plane). The stable structure of this system has been predicted only by the M05-2X and MP2 methods, which include dispersion energy, whereas the B3LYP calculations failed in geometry optimization. The distance between the Cu atom and the C horizontal lineC bond, predicted by the M05-2X method (3.00 A) is similar to the van der Waals contacts between the stacking bases in DNA. The calculated interaction energy between the chelated Cu(II) complex and ethylene amounts to -7.33 kcal mol(-1), which is similar to that determined for stacked uracil dimer. It is concluded that the London dispersion energy plays a significant role in the noncovalent interaction between the chelated Cu(II) ion and the uracilate ring in the crystal of cis-[Cu(oro)(NH(3))(2)]. Many copper enzymes in their active sites contain the chelated Cu(II) ion and the aromatic groups (Phe, Tyr and Trp) as the potential binding sites; therefore, the noncovalent copper(II)-pi interaction can be very important for the structure and functioning of these enzymes.

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Picoplatin, cis-[PtCl2(NH3)(2-picoline)], is a new promising anticancer agent undergoing clinical trials, which reveals high efficacy against many tumors and greatly reduced toxicity, in comparison to cisplatin. In this work, we present for the first time the Fourier-transform Raman and infrared spectra of picoplatin, in the region of 3500-50 cm(-1). The comprehensive theoretical studies on the molecular structure, the nature of Pt-ligand bonding, vibrational frequencies, and intensities were performed by employing different DFT methods, including hybrid (PBE0, mPW1PW, and B3LYP) and long-range-corrected hybrid density functionals (LC-ωPBE, CAM-B3LYP). Various effective core potentials (ECP) and basis sets have been used. In the prediction of the molecular structure of picoplatin, the best results have been obtained by LC-ωPBE, followed by PBE0, mPW1PW, and CAM-B3LYP density functionals, while the least accurate is B3LYP. The use of the LanL2TZ(f) ECP/basis set for Pt, in conjunction with all tested DFT methods, improves the calculated geometry of the title complex. The PBE0, mPW1PW, and CAM-B3LYP methods have shown the best performance in the calculations of the frequencies of Pt-ligand vibrations. A clear-cut assignment of all the bands in the IR and Raman spectra have been made on the basis of the calculated potential energy distribution (PED). The nature of the "vibrational signatures" of picoplatin have been determined. These results are indispensable for further investigation on drug-target interactions using vibrational spectroscopy.

Selected minerals from oval inclusions (nodules) in the Morasko IAB iron meteorite have been investigated by electron microprobe (EMP) and micro‐Raman spectroscopy. Collected spectra of quartz, forsterite‐rich olivine, chromite, kosmochlor (Na–Cr‐rich clinopyroxene) and Na‐feldspar (albite) were compared with corresponding measurements of earth minerals and used for fast identification of meteorite fragments not EMP characterized. Some structural conclusions concerning particular minerals, like solid‐state form or average crystallite size, were also drawn from the measured spectra. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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