Theoretical Models for Quantitative Description of the Acid-Base Equilibria of the 5,6-Substituted Uracils

The acidities of 18 5,6-substituted uracils have been numerically estimated as pK_a values in terms of three theoretical models. The first scheme includes the calculation of the gas-phase acidity of uracil with the G3MP2B3 method and taking into account the solvent effect using the polarizable continuum approximation PCM(SMD)-TPSS/aug-cc-pVTZ. The second model is one step and implies calculation of the free Gibbs energies of the hydrate complex of uracil (and its anion) with 5 water molecules by the TPSS/aug-cc-pVTZ method. This model accounts for the solvent effect corresponding to both specific and nonspecific solvation. The third scheme required high time and computational resources and includes the strong features of the two previous schemes. Here, the theoretical estimation of pK_a is performed by the CBS-QB3 composite method. As in the second approach, both specific (as pentahydrate) and nonspecific solvent effects are determined. We have analyzed the advantages and model restrictions of the considered schemes for the pK_a calculations. All models have systematic errors, which have been corrected with the linear empirical regression relations. In the presented model, the absolute mean deviations of the pK_a values of uracils dissociating via the N1-H bonds diminish to 0.25, 0.28, and 0.23 pK_a units (respectively, for I, II, and III models), which corresponds to ∼0.3 kcal/mol on the energy scale. The applicability of our computational schemes to uracils dissociating via N3-H, O-H (orotic acids) and C-H bonds is discussed.