
Christophe MorellClaude Bernard University Lyon 1 | UCBL · Institut des sciences analytiques
Christophe Morell
Professor
About
124
Publications
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4,330
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
August 2004 - September 2004
Position
- Professeur Agrégé de Chimie
September 2012 - present
Education
January 2010 - November 2010
August 2007 - August 2007
October 2006 - October 2006
Publications
Publications (124)
Organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) are a promising low‐cost renewable energy technology. Among various semiconductors studied for OPVs, boron subphthalocyanine chloride (Cl‐BsubPc) is one of the most explored. Phenoxy‐substituted BsubPc (PhO‐subPc) is an analogue of Cl‐BsubPc that introduces an axial phenoxy ligand in order to tune its electronic pr...
In this paper, we investigate two model reactions (an electrocyclic ring closure and a tautomerism equilibrium) in different sized fullerene cages to explore the intricate details of the confinement effect in chemistry and in chemical reactivity. Fullerene cages offers, with their unique geometry and electronic properties, an ideal theoretical mode...
Identifying the main physicochemical properties accounting for the course of a reaction is of utmost importance to rationalize chemical syntheses. To this aim, the relative energy gradient (REG) method is an appealing approach because it is an unbiased and automatic process to extract the most relevant pieces of energy information. Initially formul...
Understanding and predicting the nucleophilic reactivity are paramount in elucidating organic chemical reactions and designing new synthetic pathways. In this study, we propose a nucleophilicity index within the framework of Conceptual Density Functional Theory (CDFT). Through rigorous theoretical formulations, we introduce an original quantum reac...
Understanding and predicting the nucleophilic reactivity are paramount in elucidating organic chemical reactions and designing new synthetic pathways. In this study, we propose a nucleophilicity index within the framework of Conceptual Density Functional Theory (CDFT). Through rigorous theoretical formulations, we introduce an original quantum reac...
Conceptual density functional theory (CDFT) and the quantum reactivity descriptors stemming from it have proven to be valuable tools for understanding the chemical behavior of molecules. This article is presented as being intrinsically of dual character.
In a first part, it briefly reviews, in a deliberately didactical way, the main ensembles in CD...
The various mechanisms of primary antioxidant action of a series of 2‐Methoxyphenols are investigated in the present work. The electronic properties have just been studied in a joint article, so that we focus here on Hydrogen Atom Transfer (HAT), Single Electron Transfer–Proton Transfer (SET–PT) and Sequential Proton‐Loss Electron‐Transfer (SPLET)...
The reaction mechanism for the synthesis of quinoline-fused benzo/dia/oxa/thia/zepins is investigated using the DFT/B3LYP/6-31G(d) method. DFT conceptual reactivity indices analysis allows classification of o-aminophenol (2, X = O), o-aminothiophenol (2, X = S) and o-phenylenediamine (2, X = N) and R-substituted 2-chloroquinoline-3-carbaldehydes (1...
In this paper, the Klopman–Salem model developed in the 1960s is completed within the paradigm of conceptual DFT. The Klopman–Salem model states that a chemical reaction is either controlled by charge–charge interaction (electrostatic control) or by charge transfer (so-called covalent control). It is shown that a third kind of interaction, initiall...
The selectivity and the nature of the molecular mechanism of the [3 + 2] cycloaddition (32CA) reaction between 2-(dimethylamino)-1H-indene-1,3(2H)-dione (AY11) and trans(E)-3,3,3-trifluoro-1-nitroprop-1-ene(FNP10) has been studied, in which the molecular electron density theory using density functional theory methods at the MPWB1K/6-31G(d) computat...
Reactivity descriptors indicate where a reagent is most reactive and how it is most likely to react. However, a reaction will only occur when the reagent encounters a suitable reaction partner. Determining whether a pair of reagents is well-matched requires developing reactivity rules that depend on both reagents. This can be achieved using the exp...
The cycloaddition of CO 2 into epoxides to form cyclic carbonates is a highly sought-after reaction for its potential to both reduce and use CO 2 , which is a greenhouse gas. In this paper, we present experimental and theoretical studies and a mechanistic approach for three catalytic systems. First, as Lewis base catalysts, imidazole and its deriva...
DFT reactivity descriptors, the ultraviolet–visible spectra and hydrolysis mechanism of three cationic dyes [Malachite Green (MG), Brilliant Green (BG) and Ethyl Green (EG)] are performed with several exchange–correlation functional (global GGA, hybrids and range-separated). Using time-dependent density functional theory, the theoretical ultraviole...
The incidence of hydrogen bonds on NLO properties was not considered as essential, in particular in Pyridine Hydrazone systems, yet we show in the present work that a control of...
Outdoor air pollution is a mixture of multiple atmospheric pollutants, among which nitrogen oxide (NOx) stands out due to its association with several diseases. NOx reactivity can conduct to DNA damage as severe as interstrand crosslinks (ICL) formation, that in turn is able to block DNA replication and transcription. Experimental studies have sugg...
In the first paper of this series, the authors derived an expression for the interaction energy between two reagents in terms of the chemical reactivity indicators that can be derived from density functional perturbation theory. While negative interaction energies can explain reactivity, reactivity is often more simply explained using the “|dμ| big...
In this chapter, inclusion of excited states in conceptual density functional theory (DFT) is discussed. We focus on the study of reactivity, along two axes: either looking for reactivity and selectivity in the excited states themselves or using excited states as a mere tool to delineate ground state chemical properties.
Electronic effects (inductive and mesomeric) are of fundamental importance to understand the reactivity and selectivity of a molecule. In this article, polarisation temperature is used as a principal index to describe how electronic effects propagate in halogeno-alkanes and halogeno-alkenes. It is found that as chain length increases, polarisation...
The complexation of transition metals with a rather new aminopolycarboxilic ligand, the glutamic N, N-bis(carboxymethyl) acid (GLDA) is investigated using the density functional at the PBE/TPZ level of theory. In...
This chapter reviews dual descriptor from conceptual density functional theory framework. The dual descriptor is designed to provide insight into the chemical reactivity of a system. The chapter presents how it has initially been formulated. This first approach revealed a strong connection between the dual descriptor and reactivity, which was furth...
The present work reports the computational study of the major Diels–Alder reaction between 2‐bromocycloalkenone and a variety of mono‐ and di‐substituted dienes. Through density functional theory (DFT) calculations and subsequent activation strain model/energy decomposition analysis/conceptual DFT (C‐DFT) analyses, the key factors governing the act...
Some Mo-oxo complexes bearing pyridine rings have the capability for dihydrogen production from water. However, energy barrier and overall energy vary depending on the effect exerted by several substituent groups located at different positions around one or more pyridine rings which are ligands of these compounds. Based on the Karunadasa and cowork...
The selectivity and the mechanism of the uncatalyzed and AlCl3 catalyzed hetero-Diels-Alder reaction (HDR) between ([E]-4-methylpenta-2,4-dienyloxy)(tert-butyl)dimethylsilane 1 and benzaldehyde 2 have been studied using density functional theory at the MPWB1K/6-31G(d) level of theory. The uncatalyzed HDR between diene 1 and alkene 2 is characterize...
Apurinic/apyrimidinic sites are the most common DNA damage under physiological conditions. Yet, their structural and dynamical behavior within nucleosome core particles has just begun to be investigated, and show dramatic differences with the one of abasic sites in B-DNA. Clusters oftwo or more abasic sites are repaired even less efficiently and he...
Apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites are the most common DNA lesions, which benefit from a most efficient repair by the base excision pathway. The impact of losing a nucleobase on the conformation and dynamics of B-DNA is well characterized. Yet AP sites seem to present an entirely different chemistry in nucleosomal DNA, with lifetimes reduced up to 10...
A fundamental link between conceptual density functional theory and statistical thermodynamics is herein drawn, showing that intermolecular electrostatic interactions can be understood in terms of effective work and heat exchange. From a more detailed analysis of the heat exchange in a perturbation theory framework, an associated entropy can be sub...
Apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites are the most common DNA lesions, which benefit from a most efficient repair by the base excision pathway. The impact of losing a nucleobase on the conformation and dynamics of B-DNA is well characterized. Yet AP sites seem to present an entirely different chemistry in nucleosomal DNA, with lifetimes reduced up to 10...
This paper results from a round table discussion at the CCTC2018 Conference in Changsha City, Hunan, China, in December 2018. It presents a report on the status, prospects, and issues of conceptual density functional theory (CDFT). After a short exposition on the history of CDFT, its fundamentals, philosophy, and successes are highlighted. Then ten...
In this publication, we propose a new set of reactivity/selectivity descriptors, derived within a Rayleigh-Schrödinger perturbation theory framework, for chemical systems undergoing an electrostatic (point-charge) perturbation. From the electron density polarisation at first order, qualitative insight on reactivity is retrieved, while more quantita...
In a recent paper, the Lewis acidic character of a series of Zn-Sal(ph)en complexes was reviewed, using conceptual density functional theory descriptors to assess the acidic character. It was shown that the nature of the bridging diamine link in the Schiff base ligand controls this character that is mainly responsible for the coordination of the Zn...
Conceptual density functional theory has been applied to study the Himbert intramolecular arene/allene Diels-Alder reaction. The effect of substitutions at different positions on the kinetics of these reactions has been analyzed. Therefore, from the calculation of the activation energies of more than 27 reactions involving concerted mechanisms, the...
All calculations performed using ORCA 4.0, B3LYP (Gaussian version) + def2-tzvp/cc-pvtz level<br
We report the synthesis, spectroscopic, magnetic characterisations and ab initio investigation of a new mononuclear ytterbium based complex, [YbTp2NO3], and discuss the physical mechanisms beneath the slow relaxation of its...
To shed more insight into the regioselectivities observed in the reactions between 3,5-diaminopyrazoles and N-acyl imidates or N-ethoxy imidate yielding the corresponding substituted pyrazolo[1,5-a]-[1,3,5]triazines or pyrazolo[1,5-a][1,3,5]triazinones, DFT calculations are carried out using B3LYP/6-31++G (d, p)method. The favored mechanism and the...
In this article, the Lewis acidic character within a series of Zn‐Sal(ph)en complexes is reviewed and revisited. Besides traditional analyses found in the literature, conceptual density functional theory descriptors are used to assess this acidic character. Using these tools, we highlight how the nature of the bridging diamine linker in the Schiff...
Gradient‐regulated connection (GRAC) is a generalized gradient approximation exchange density functional designed by combining the revPBE and PW91 exchange functionals to impose their behaviors in the slowly‐ and fast‐varying density regions, respectively. Such a construction allows one single density functional to accurately estimate both covalent...
By using a combination of readily accessible experimental and computational experiments in water, we explored the factors governing the association between a polyanionic dyn[4]arene and a series of α,ω-alkyldiammonium ions of increasing chain length. We found that the lock-and-key concept based on the best match between apolar and polar regions of...
In this work, the nature of the chemical interactions between the metalloid atom (M = Si, Ge, As, Sb, Te, Po) and the nitrogen atoms in the bora-amidinate (bam) complexes (ClnM[PhB(NtBu)2]) are investigated, mainly via density-based indices. The descriptors used are derived using the quantum theory of atoms in molecules and natural orbitals for che...
A new Zn‐N4‐Schiff base L=((±)‐trans‐N,N’‐Bis(2‐aminobenzylidene)‐1,2‐diaminocyclohexane) complex was synthesized and fully characterized, showing an unexpected self‐assembled double‐stranded helicate structure. The X‐ray crystal analysis of the Zn2L2 complex ((C40H44N8Zn2,CH2Cl2, a=14.2375(3) Å, b=16.7976(4) Å, c=16.1613(4) Å, monoclinic, P21/n, Z...
The present work studies theoretically the mechanisms involved in the fluorine substituent effect on the stereochemistry of Diels-Alder reactions. The case of R-butenone, modelling more general α-fluoro-α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, with...
We report the luminescence and magnetic properties of the mononuclear Dy(III) complex [DyTp 2 Acac] (Tp = hydrotris-pyrazolylborate, Acac = 2,4-pentanedionate). This complex displays an original slow dynamics of magnetisation at low...
In a recent article Polanco-Ramirez et al. proposed new definitions of local chemical potential and local hardness starting from the first derivative of the energy with respect to the number...
Nonsteroidal 2-arylproprionic acids are widely used, over-the-counter, anti-inflammatory drugs. Photosensitivity is a commonly overlooked adverse effect of these drugs. Based on the combined use of cell viability assays and molecular modeling, we prove and rationalize the photochemical pathways triggering photosensitization for two drugs, ibuprofen...
Biogenic polyamines, which play a role in DNA condensation and stabilization, are ubiquitous and are found at millimolar concentration in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. The interaction modes of three polyamines—putrescine (Put), spermine (Spm), and spermidine (Spd)—with a self-complementary 16 base pair (bp) duplex, are investigated by all-atom e...
The regioselectivity of the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of a model nitrone with a set of dipolarophiles, presenting diverse electronic effects, is analyzed using conceptual density functional theory (DFT) methods. We deviate from standard approaches based on frontier molecular orbitals and formulations of the local hard/soft acid/base principle and u...
In this paper, we assess the ability of descriptors defined within the framework of the quantum theory of atoms-in-molecules to retrieve trans and cis structural effects in 42 d⁶ octahedral carbonyl organometallic complexes involving cobalt and rhodium atoms. More specifically, correlations between bond lengths in trans or cis position with respect...
In the first paper of this series, the authors derived an expression for the interaction energy between two reagents in terms of the chemical reactivity indicators that can be derived from density functional perturbation theory. While negative interaction energies can explain reactivity, reactivity is often more simply explained using the "|dμ| big...
DNA photolesions constitute a particularly deleterious class of molecular defects responsible for the insurgence of a vast majority of skin malignant tumors. Dimerization of two adjacent thymines or cytosines mostly gives rise to cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) and pyrimidine(6-4)pyrimidone 64-PP as the most common defects. We perform all-atom...
Oxidatively-generated interstrand cross-links rank among the most deleterious DNA lesions. They originate from abasic sites, whose aldehyde group can form a covalent adduct after condensation with the exocyclic amino group of purines, sometimes with remarkably high yields. We use explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations to unravel the struct...
To limit in vivo experiments, the use of quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) is advocated by REACH regulation to predict the required fish, invertebrate, and algae EC50 for chemical registration. The aim of this work was to develop reliable QSARs in order to model both invertebrate and algae EC50 for organic solvents, regardless o...
In the present contribution, the interaction between damaged DNA and repair enzymes is examined by means of molecular dynamics simulations. More specifically, we consider cluster abasic DNA lesions processed by the primary human apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonuclease, APE1, also known as Ref-1. Our results show that, in stark contrast with the cor...
Clustered apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP; abasic) DNA lesions produced by ionizing radiation are by far more cytotoxic than isolated AP lesion entities. The structure and dynamics of a series of seven 23-bp oligonucleotides featuring simple bistranded clustered damage sites, comprising of two AP sites, zero, one, three or five bases 3' or 5' apart from...
Oxidatively generated DNA lesions are numerous and versatile, and have been the subject of intensive research since the discovery of 8-oxoguanine in 1984. Even for this prototypical lesion, the precise mechanism of formation remains elusive due to the inherent difficulties in characterizing high-energy intermediates. We have probed the stability of...
It is shown that modelling a catalytic reaction involving an atomic anion, such as iodide, may lead to unrealistic reaction paths because of the underestimation of the anion energy. The self-interaction error, at the origin of this feature is enhanced by the fact that electronic delocalisation, usually overestimated in DFT calculations, cannot occu...
In this paper, we show that trans effects in octahedral complexes can primarily be related to differences in the ability, for a given ligand, to cede electron density to the metal cation under the influence of the ligand at the trans position. Using tools from conceptual DFT or from related paradigms, we highlight these effects on a set of represen...