Polyphenolic metacyclophane as a radical scavenger for therapeutic activation: a computational study

Modeling antioxidants for improved human health is a prime area of research. Inclusion complexes exhibit antioxidant activity. Supramolecular scaffolds like calixtyrosol are anticipated to have considerable antioxidant and therapeutic activity. In this study, we have designed 30 polyphenolic metacyclophanes and investigated their antioxidant properties. Exceptional O─H bond dissociation energy of 44 kcal/mol is reported for a metacyclophane with acyl urea linkage. This may be explained through a cooperative effect of localization of spin density distribution and an intramolecular hydrogen bonding of the corresponding radical. Further, the pharmacokinetics and toxicity analysis screened eight drug-like candidates. The interaction of the eight screened molecules with the Lysozyme transport protein and SOD protein has been studied using the molecular docking approach. Lastly, the MD simulations are performed to analyze the conformational changes of the transport protein after complexation with the proposed molecules. Comprehensive analyses including density functional studies of physiological parameters, favorable pharmacokinetics, toxicity, molecular docking, and MD simulations affirmed polyphenolic metacyclophane XXI as a radical scavenging and drug-like candidate.