Free energies of solvation in aqueous and organic solutions for solutes with amide, keto and ester functional groups

Free energies of solvation in aqueous, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride solutions have been computed for the minimum energy conformations of N,N'-dimethylsuccinamide, 2,5-hexanedione and dimethylsuccinate. Such three compounds only differ in the functional groups since the number of methylene and methyl units are the same. The results provide valuable information about the effect of the different solvents on the amide, keto and ester functional groups. Further, the role of the central methylene units on the solvation characteristics of the three compounds have been investigated by comparison with small model molecules. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.