Study of Non-Covalent Interactions Present in the Tapinarof-Ethanol System with Special Emphasis on Hydrogen-Bonding Interactions

J Phys Chem B. 2023 Jul 6;127(26):5933-5940. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c03152. Epub 2023 Jun 23.

Abstract

In this study, the effect of non-covalent interaction in the tapinarof-EtOH systems is evaluated, particularly the hydrogen-bonding interaction using density functional theory in a gas phase. From the optimization results and the binding energy calculated thereafter, it is concluded that interaction in the employed system occurs between the O-H groups on tapinarof and the oxygen atom of EtOH molecules existing in the vicinity of the O-H group. These interactions were concluded to be those of the weak hydrogen bonds by carrying out the reduced gradient approach and QTAIM analysis, which are basically electron-density-based topological analyses. The charge localization between the donor-acceptor moieties was analyzed using the NBO analysis. Using the LED analysis, the binding energy between the tapinarof and EtOH was partitioned into different energy terms centered on a domain-based local pair natural orbital coupled cluster method. Thus, the electronic environment of the tapinarof-EtOH systems is evaluated.