Experimental and theoretical spectroscopic and structural study of A-ring substituted camptothecins

The molecular architecture design and physical properties of seven camptothecin (CPT) alkaloids, structurally related to irinotecan (CPT-11), substituted with the cyclic bulk N-aliphatic substituents at A-ring as well as their different protonated forms were studied. The correlation between the molecular geometry and physical properties of the neutral lactone form and different possible cationic forms was elucidated, using the electronic absorptions (EAs), circular dichroic (CD) and Raman spectroscopy within the far-IR region as well as electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance methods. The electronic structures, and properties of the neutral CPTs, their mono- and diprotonated forms as well as molecular ion fragments, obtained by the mass spectrometric data are predicted theoretically using the DFT method.