Theoretical exploring the complexation and enantioseparation of novel chiral-at-uranium complexes with R/S-O,O-dimethyl-S-[1,2-bis(ethoxycarbonyl)ethyl]thiophosphates

It’s very important to design novel uranium(VI) complexes with enantioselectivity for identification and enantioseparation of chiral pesticides. Enantiomers of O,O-dimethyl-S-[1,2-bis(ethoxycarbonyl)ethyl]thiophosphates(DBTPs) exhibit different biological toxicities. In this work, two novel chiral-at-uranium complexes (uranyl-2-(9-(1H-indazole-1-carbonyl)-1,10-phenanthrolin-2-yl)-1H-inden-1-one (Uranyl-IPIDO) and uranyl-2-(9-(1-oxo-1H-inden-2-yl)-1,10-phenanthrolin-2-yl)naphthalene-1,4-dione (Uranyl-OPND)) were designed to selectively enantioseparate R/S-DBTPs. Based on density functional theory (DFT), complexation behaviors and enantioseparation of Uranyl-IPIDO/Uranyl-OPND with R/S-DBTPs were theoretically investigated. Through analyses of EDA, ΔG, ESP, QTAIM, EDDM, LOL, FMO, MO, IGMH, ETS-NOCV, we found that Uranyl-IPIDO/Uranyl-OPND demonstrated excellent enantioseparation performance for R/S-DBTPs, with separation factors of 110–30526 and enantioselectivity coefficients exceeding 99% in water, butanol, octanol, and propanoic acid.