Non-trivial chiroptical responses: experimental and theoretical investigations

In the past few years, our two groups of research have been collaborating on a number of projects dealing with the assignment of the absolute configuration (AC) of complex chiral molecules of phar- macological interest in the disordered phase. [1] These studies have been mainly carried out by means of electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectroscopy and quantum mechanical (QM) calculations at the den- sity functional theory (DFT) level of approximation. Particular attention has been payed to non-trivial chiroptical responses due to conformational flexibility and solvation. Beside these shared activities, some more specific research fields have been investigated too. In par- ticular, the Bologna group has performed studies concerning the hyphenation of enantioselective HPLC methods with detection systems based on ECD [2] and the characterization of biomolecular recognition phenomena between drugs and target or carrier macromolecules. [3] The Salerno group has developed some skills in vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) [4] and chiral NMR [5] spectroscopies, thanks to the availability of a VCD spectrometer and previous studies concerning the non-linear response of molecules exposed to radiation. [1] (a) C. Bertucci, M. Pistolozzi, D. Tedesco, R. Zanasi, R. Ruzziconi, A. M. Di Pietra, J. Chromatogr. A 2012, 1232, 128–133; (b) D. Tedesco, R. Zanasi, A. Guerrini, C. Bertucci, Chirality 2012, 24, 741–750; (c) F. Dong, J. Li, B. Chankvetadze, Y. Cheng, J. Xu, X. Liu, Y. Li, X. Chen, C. Bertucci, D. Tedesco, R. Zanasi, Y. Zheng, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2013, 47, 3386–3394; (d) W. J. Andrioli, R. Conti, M. J. Araújo, R. Zanasi, B. C. Cavalcanti, V. Manfrim, J. S. Toledo, D. Tedesco, M. O. de Moraes, C. Pessoa, A. K. Cruz, C. Bertucci, J. Sabino, D. N. P. Nanayakkara, M. T. Pupo, J. K. Bastos, J. Nat. Prod. 2014, 77, 70–78; (e) D. Tedesco, R. Zanasi, I. W. Wainer, C. Bertucci, J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal. 2014, 91, 92–96. [2] (a) C. Bertucci, D. Tedesco, J. Chromatogr. A 2012, 1269, 69–81; (b) D. Tedesco, A. M. Di Pietra, F. Rossi, M. Garagnani, E. Del Borrello, C. Bertucci, V. Andrisano, J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal. 2013, 81-82, 76–79. [3] (a) G. A. Ascoli, E. Domenici, C. Bertucci, Chirality 2006, 18, 667–679; (b) M. Pistolozzi, C. Bertucci, Chirality 2008, 20, 552–558; [4] (a) A. Lattanzi, A. Russo, P. Rizzo, G. Monaco, R. Zanasi, Chirality 2010, 22, E130–E135; (b) A. Massa, P. Rizzo, G. Monaco, R. Zanasi, Tetrahed. Lett. 2013, 54, 6242–6246. [5] (a) S. Pelloni, P. Lazzeretti, R. Zanasi, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2007, 3, 1691–1698; (b) G. Monaco, R. Zanasi, Chirality 2011, 23, 752–755.