DFT Study on DMNT biosynthesis as a defective plant-insect interaction

The (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (DMNT) biosynthesis has been proposed to occur via (E)-nerolidol as precursor 1-3. Nerolidol is a sesquiterpene alcohol and a volatile organic compound constituent in the headspace of some flowers 4 and plants, which is converted to DMNT by cytochrome P450 enzyme catalysis 5. Although DMNT is considered as one of the defensive volatile organic constituents involved in plant-insect interaction but the role of nerolidol as an active compound in plant defensive systems is ambiguous 6 and also the DMNT biosynthesis mechanism is not clearly known. Herein DMNT biosynthesis is thermodynamically investigated. The calculations were performed using Gaussian 09 with Gausview interface and the geometries were optimized at the DFT B3LYP level of theory with a STO-3G basis set. The thermochemical data such as entropy, gibs free energy, total energy data and also polarizability were calculated for both nerolidol and DMNT. Some of the results are tabled below.

Keywords:

DFT study , nerolidol , thermodynamic properties , B3LYP , STO-3G basis set.