Density functional theory and topological analysis on the hydrogen bonds in cysteine–propanoic acid complexes

The complexes formed via hydrogen bonding interactions between cysteine and propanoic acid have been studied at the density three-parameter hybrid functional DFT-B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level regarding their geometries, energies, vibrational frequencies, and topological features of the electron density. The quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis was employed to elucidate the interaction characteristics in cysteine–propanoic acid (Cys–Prop) complexes. More than 10 kinds of hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) including intra- and inter-molecular H-bonds have been found in Cys–Prop complexes. The results show that both the strength of H-bonds and the deformation are important factors for the stability of Cys–Prop complexes. The strongest H-bonds (O2HA···O1B and O2HA···O1B) exist in the most stable Cys–Prop complex. The stronger H-bonds formed between hydroxyl and O (or N) atom usually stronger than those involve C (or S) atom. Relationships between the electron density (ρ) of BCP and H-bond length as well as the Fock matrix element (Fij) has also been investigated and used to study the nature of H-bonds. Moreover, the results show that the change of the bond length linearly correlates with the corresponding frequency shift.