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| Author(s): |
Alexandre Suman de Araujo
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Carlos. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC/BT) |
| Defense date: | 2006-09-20 |
| Examining board members: |
Oscar Enrique Piro;
Jorge Chahine;
Andre Farias de Moura;
Munir Salomão Skaf;
Otavio Henrique Thiemann
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| Advisor: | Eduardo Ernesto Castellano; Oscar Enrique Piro |
| Abstract | |
We report a series of Molecular Dynamics simulations, in vacuum and in acetonitrile solution, on the complexation process of the calixarens tetraethylester p-tert-butyl calix[4]arene (CLE) and tetramethylketone p-tert-butyl calix[4]arene (CLC) with Pb2+ and Cd2+ anions and neutral species. The solvent and calixarene molecules were modeled based on the OPLS-AA force field. The parameters for the ions were adjusted to simultaneously reproduce some structural and thermodynamic properties obtained either experimentally or from QM/MM calculations. The simulations in the liquid phase show CLE to be more efficient than CLC in trapping the studied metal ions, leading to more stable complexes. Ion complexation gives rise to an allosteric effect by which a solvent molecule is trapped in the hydrophobic cavity giving rise to further stabilization of the complex. Simulations on CLC show that formation of the calixarene-acetonitrile adduct is essential to the stabilization of the ionic complex, thus exhibiting the influence of this particular solvent in the very existence of the complex. In spite of the conclusion that CLE has higher affinity than CLC for Pb2+ and Cd2+ ions, only further studies in water solution will permit to evaluate the real potential of this molecule as an efficient scavenger of environmental heavy metal pollution. (AU) | |