Dispersion-corrected density functional theory studies on glycolic acid-metal complexes

The structure and metal complexation studies using dispersion-corrected density functional theory methods are performed for four stable glycolic acid conformers named SSC, GAC, SAC, and AAT. The condensed Fukui functions are calculated to study the favourable reactive site for metal binding on the glycolic acid conformers. The interaction of alkali metal ions (Na + , K + ) with different binding sites (carboxyl, hydroxyl oxygen) of the glycolic acid conformers in the gas phase is investigated at the same level of theory. Our calculations show that the order of stability changes into SSC > AAT > GAC = SAC due to the binding of the metal ion. The relative energy values indicate that the AAT conformer is more stable than the GAC and SAC conformers. This occurs when a metal ion (Na + , K + ) is bound with the carboxyl oxygen atom of glycolic acid. The QTAIM, RDG, NCI, ELF, LOL, and NBO analysis are employed in this work to understand the strength of intra- and intermolecular interactions in the glycolic acid metal complexes.