DFT study on the effects of catalysis by β-cyclodextrin in the reaction of p-nitrophenyl acetate.

The reaction of p-nitrophenyl acetate and α-alanine can be improved apparently with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) according to previous research, the interaction mechanism between β-cyclodextrin and p-nitrophenyl acetate is described in this paper. Density functional theory (DFT) method is used throughout the study. According to the energy (the binding energy, the deformation energy) and structural deformation, entry models and reaction process can be pinpointed, viz p-nitrophenyl acetate embed β-CD from the wide rim. Then frontier molecular orbital, dual descriptor, natural bonding orbital (NBO), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are employed to reveal the mechanism of electron transferring. The mechanism illustrates that β-CD plays a catalytic role during the synthesis reaction, improving the reactivity and selectivity of the process. Graphical Abstract DFT study on the effects of catalysis by β-cyclodextrin in the reaction of p-nitrophenyl acetate.