First-Principles Study of the Dispersion Effects in the Structures and Keto-Enol Tautomerization of Curcumin

Noncovalent interactions, such as dispersion, play a significant role in the stability of flexible molecules, such as curcumin. This study revealed the importance of dispersion correction in the structure and keto-enol tautomerization of curcumin, which has rarely been addressed in computational studies. We rigorously constructed all possible unique curcumin conformers in the enol and keto forms within the first-principles framework. Regardless of the different environments, we carefully explained the agreement between the computational geometry (in the gas phase) and the experimental measurement (in the polymorph) by using dispersion correction. The calculation results for the aqueous solution of conformational abundance, thermochemistry, and reaction kinetics support the experimental observations after considering the dispersion correction. The study also suggests a water-catalyzed mechanism for keto-enol tautomerization, where dispersion correction plays a role in decreasing the energy barrier and making the keto form thermochemically and kinetically favorable. Our results could be helpful in future computational studies to find a method for increasing the aqueous solubility of curcumin; hence, the potential of curcumin as a multifunctional medicine can be fully achieved.