DFT studies of substituted phenols cytotoxicity I. Para-substituted
phenols
Abstract
New type of cytotoxicity descriptors based on Cu(II) coordination
ability of p-substituted phenols and subsequent O → Cu electron density
transfer is introduced. Geometries of phenols and of their Cu(II)
complexes are optimized at the DFT level of theory. The amount of
electron density transfer is evaluated using the copper charge or the
electron density Laplacian at the Cu-O bond critical point. The
Cu-phenol interaction energy is a measure of the phenol reactivity.
Statistical parameters for the linear dependence of the published
cytotoxicity data on the above predictors are much better than the
classical ones.