The purpose of this
study is to investigate thermodynamic and kinetic
properties on the hydrogen-atom-donating ability of 4-substituted
Hantzsch ester radical cations (XRH
•+
), which are
excellent NADH coenzyme models. Gibbs free energy changes and activation
free energies of 17 XRH
•+
releasing H
•
[denoted as Δ
G
HD
o
(XRH
•+
) and Δ
G
HD
≠
(XRH
•+
)] were calculated using density functional
theory (DFT) and compared with that of Hantzsch ester (HEH
2
) and NADH. Δ
G
HD
o
(XRH
•+
) range from
19.35 to 31.25 kcal/mol, significantly lower than that of common antioxidants
(such as ascorbic acid, BHT, the NADH coenzyme, and so forth). Δ
G
HD
≠
(XRH
•+
) range from 29.81 to 39.00 kcal/mol, indicating
that XRH
•+
spontaneously releasing H
•
are extremely slow unless catalysts or active intermediate radicals
exist. According to the computed data, it can be inferred that the
Gibbs free energies and activation free energies of the core 1,4-dihydropyridine
radical cation structure (DPH
•+
) releasing H
•
[Δ
G
HD
o
(DPH
•+
) and Δ
G
HD
≠
(DPH
•+
)] should be 19–32 kcal/mol and 29–39
kcal/mol in acetonitrile, respectively. The correlations between the
thermodynamic driving force [Δ
G
HD
o
(XRH
•+
)] and the activation free energy [Δ
G
HD
≠
(XRH
•+
)] are also explored. Gibbs free energy is the important
and decisive parameter, and Δ
G
HD
≠
(XRH
•+
) increases in company with the increase of Δ
G
HD
o
(XRH
•+
), but no simple linear correlations are
found. Even though all XRH
•+
are judged as excellent
antioxidants from the thermodynamic view, the computed data indicate
that whether XRH
•+
is an excellent antioxidant in
reaction is decided by the R substituents in 4-position. XRH
•+
with nonaromatic substituents tend to release R
•
instead of H
•
to quench radicals. XRH
•+
with aromatic substituents tend to release H
•
and
be used as antioxidants, but not all aromatic substituted Hantzsch
esters are excellent antioxidants.