A Computational Study of Toxicity of Nitrobenzenes Using QSPR and DFT-Based Molecular Surface Electrostatic Potential

Abstract

In the present study, the density functional B3LYP/6-311G** level of theory was used to compute and map the molecular surface electrostatic potentials of a group of substituted nitrobenzenes to identify common features related to their subsequent toxicities. Several statistical properties including potentials’ extrema (Vmin, Vmax), molecular volume, surface area, polar surface area, along with different energies were computed. A little linear correlation was revealed between Vmin and surface area, and systems’ toxicities. Another computations employed quantitative structure–property relationships model in CODESSA package to correlate toxicities with calculated descriptors. Statistically, the most significant correlation is a five-parameter equation with correlation coefficient, R2 values of 0.962, and the cross-validated correlation coefficient, R2 CV= 0.950. The obtained models allowed us to reveal toxic activity of nitrobenzenes.