Degree Name
MS (Master of Science)
Program
Chemistry
Date of Award
12-2023
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Scott Kirkby
Committee Members
Reza Mohseni, Marina Roginskaya
Abstract
Melatonin is a natural antioxidant that has been investigated for properties as a potential spin trap to identify short-lived free radicals. Computational quantum chemistry studies have been performed for the oxidation of melatonin to N1-acetyl-N2-formyl-5-methoxykynuramine. This research focused on modification of melatonin into derivatives and analyzing the change in total molecular energy from melatonin to its oxidation product, as well as the corresponding derivatives. Each of the molecular geometries were optimized at the DFT/B3LYP/6-31G(d), DFT/B3LYP/cc-pVXZ (X = D, T), HF/6-31G(d), HF/cc-PVXZ (X = D, T), MP2/6-31G(d), and MP2/cc-PVXZ (X = D, T) levels of theory. Single point energies were extrapolated to the complete basis set. The results demonstrated that some electron-withdrawing groups increased the total energy of the system. The electron-withdrawing functional group which lowered the total energy of the system was a peroxyl functional group, and this is believed to be due to overlapping constructive interference between molecular orbitals.
Document Type
Thesis - embargo
Recommended Citation
Horne, James, "Computational Quantum Chemistry Studies of the Stabilities of Radical Adducts Formed During the Oxidation of Melatonin Derivatives" (2023). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4298. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/4298
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.