Reaction pathways involved in the mechanism of AlIII chelation with caffeic acid: catechol and carboxylic functions competition.

Density functional theory calculations on the AlIII-caffeic acid system are carried out to investigate the fixing mechanism of this metal ion to the two competing complexing sites in the ligand. This theoretical study was performed to explain the complex formation of 1:1 stoichiometry observed in aqueous medium at low pH values. Both complexation with the catechol and carboxylic functions are envisaged. The reaction pathways for the formation of these two chelates are calculated at the B3LYP/6-31G** level of theory. The complexation on the more acidic group is relatively straightforward and shows the intermediate formation of a monodentate complex followed by a chelation process. The complexation reaction pathway with the catechol function is more sophisticated, and several pathways are explored. Once more, the formation of a monodentate complex is achieved and the most favorable pathway for chelation involves the successive steps: 1) coordination of AlIII on the oxygen atom of a hydroxyl group, 2) deprotonation of this hydroxyl group, 3) ring closure with the other oxygen atom, and 4) deprotonation of the second hydroxyl. From an energetic point of view, this second pathway is more favorable. Notably the energy barrier necessary to form the chelate is lower for the catechol function than that calculated for the carboxylic group. The results of this purely theoretical study are in complete agreement with spectroscopic investigations performed on this system.