L-DOPA, L-DOPAQUINONA E DOPAMINA: UMA ANÁLISE CONFORMACIONAL ATRAVÉS DE CÁLCULOS TEÓRICOS E DAS ESPECTROSCOPIAS DE RESSONÂNCIA MAGNÉTICA NUCLEAR E NA REGIÃO DO INFRAVERMELHO

Abstract

In this study was approached the conformational study of dopamine, L-dopa and L-dopaquinone, in their neutral and protonated forms, by theoretical calculations and NMR and IR spectroscopies. The interest in evaluate the conformational equilibrium of these compounds was obtained by the fact that there are no reports in the literature about them at this level of theory, considering that are compounds with high biological importance. The theoretical calculations were performed at HF/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory, available in the programs package GAUSSIAN 03. These calculations determined the energies and geometries of most stable conformers in the isolated phase and in aqueous solution. For some compounds, the analysis of hyperconjugatives effects by NBO calculations also showed that some orbital interactions stabilize the system. For protonated dopamine, by 1H NMR, it was not possible to associate the solvent or temperature effects with possible changes in populations of conformers. In the case of two forms of L-dopa, the behavior of the couplings constants 3JHH in different solvents and temperatures could not tell us if there was variation in the populations with change of polarity of the medium. However, their values allowed affirm that the predominant form at equilibrium in solution is the trans, in agreement with theoretical data obtained. The carbonyl stretching bands, in IR spectrum, in fundamental region, could not determine the variations in the populational equilibrium, but a significant asymmetry and width of these bands showed that the equilibrium is composed of multiple conformations, such as this case. Finally, electrostatic potential maps were used to demonstrate in the most stable conformers which regions of higher and lower electron density. Keywords: Conformational analysis. Theoretical calculations. NMR Spectroscopy.