Calculations of optical rotation: Influence of molecular structure

Abstract

Ab initio Hartree-Fock (HF) method and Density Functional Theory (DFT) were used to calculate the optical rotation of 26 chiral compounds. The effects of theory and basis sets used for calculation, solvents influence on the geometry and values of calculated optical rotation were all discussed. The polarizable continuum model, included in the calculation, did not improve the accuracy effectively, but it was superior to ?s. Optical rotation of five or sixmembered of cyclic compound has been calculated and 17 pyrrolidine or piperidine derivatives which were calculated by HF and DFT methods gave acceptable predictions. The nitrogen atom affects the calculation results dramatically, and it is necessary in the molecular structure in order to get an accurate computation result. Namely, when the nitrogen atom was substituted by oxygen atom in the ring, the calculation result deteriorated.