In-depth Hirschfeld Surface Analysis, Interaction Energy, Molecular Docking, and DFT Investigations of Electronic Properties of 2,4-dimethyl-1-nitrobenzene

Abstract

Quantum-chemical calculations, molecular docking, and Hirshfeld surface analysis of a structure of 2,4-dimethyl-1-nitrobenzene constitute the main aspects of this work. The crystal structure of the title compound which is liquid at room temperature, was obtained by in situ cryo crystallization The crystal packing is stabilized by C5–H5…O2 and C7–H7C…N1 intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The analysis of the obtained results of the density functional theory calculations is in good agreement with the experimental data. The analysis of global chemical reactivity descriptors shows that the compound exhibits more stability and less reactivity at high polar media. Hirshfeld surface and 2D-fingerprint plots analysis shows that the H…H, O…H/H…O, C…C, and C…H/H…C contacts are the significant contributors stabilizing the crystal structure of 2,4-dimethyl-1-nitrobenzene. The RDG-NCI analysis of the molecule was performed to determine the non-covalent interactions present within the molecule. In addition, the compound under investigation presents a biological activity when it is docked into the protein (PDB ID: 4Y0S) with the binding energy system of -6.6 kcal/mol.