Model-Based Quantum-Chemical Study of the Uptake of Some Polychlorinated Pollutant Compounds by Zucchini Subspecies

Abstract

We report the results of a search of formal relationships between accumulation data and molecular structure for some pollutant molecules (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans and polychlorinated biphenyls) in Gold Rush, Black Beauty and Patty Green zucchini subspecies. We employed a model-based quantum-chemical approach and Linear Multiple Regression Analysis to correlate local atomic reactivity indices with accumulation capacities. We found several statistically significant relationships involving local reactivity indices, namely total and local atomic superdelocalizabilities, Fukui indices and net charges. This study, contrary to statistically-backed ones, is able to provide a microscopic insight of the mechanisms involved in the uptake process.

Quantum Chemical Study of the Relationships Between Electronic Structure and Pharmacokinetic Profile, Inhibitory Strength Toward Hepatitis C Virus Ns5b Polymerase and HCV Replicons of Indole-Based Compounds

“…Three previous studies give some support to our model. In the first one, interesting results were obtained for the relationship between accumulation capacity and molecular structure in a group of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans and polychlorinated biphenyls in some zucchini subspecies 76 . In the second one we obtained good quality results concerning structure-biological activity relationships for two different sets of molecules presenting inhibitory activity against some effects of HIV-1 (inhibition of HIV-induced cytopathicity and cytostatic effects) and H1N1 virus (decrease of H1N1-induced cytopathic effects) 77 .…”

“…This choice is right because after geometry optimization this is the only method producing positive nucleophilic superdelocalizabilities as required by the model. Its application gave good results when applied to drug-receptor interaction studies 62 and biological activities (inhibition of wild-type and drug-resistant HTV-1 reverse transcriptase 63 , accumulation of polychlorinated molecules 76 and inhibitory activity against some effects of HIV-1 and H1N1 viruses 77 ). It is worth mentioning that, in general but not always, semiempirical methods give better QSAR results that Hartree-Fock or Density Functional ones 65,81 .…”

Modeling the Relationships Between Molecular Structure and Inhibition of Virus-Induced Cytophatic Effects: Anti-Hiv-1 and Anti-H1n1 (Influenza A) Activities as Examples

“…This opens an entirely new research field and raises the possibility that this methodology be applied to other types of measurements of biological activity 55 .…”

Quantum-chemical Modeling of the Relationships between Molecular Structure and In Vitro Multi-Step, Multimechanistic Drug Effects. HIV-1 Replication Inhibition and Inhibition of Cell Proliferation as Examples

“…Two previous studies give some support to this hypothesis. In the first one, good results were obtained for the relationship between accumulation capacity and molecular structure in a group of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans and polychlorinated biphenyls in some zucchini subspecies [13]. In a more recent study, we obtained good quality results concerning structure-biological activity relationships for two different sets of molecules presenting inhibitory activity against some effects of HIV-1 (inhibition of HIV-induced cytopathicity and cytostatic effects) and H1N1 virus (decrease of H1N1-induced cytopathic effects) [14].…”

“…During the last three decades we have developed a formal method [1] to correlate in vitro receptor binding affinity constants with the electronic structure and substituent orientational parameters of drug molecules [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. A formal or non-empirical method is based on the following philosophy: it begins by proposing a model to explain a given biological activity.…”