Spectroscopic characterization and DFT-based structural analysis of a novel sulfonyl-acetamide imidazole derivative with multi-target protein docking studies

Abstract

This study describes the synthesis and thorough identification of N-[4-[4-[2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazole-1-yl]phenyl]sulfonylphenyl]acetamide (NHDIPSA) using DFT-based computerized methods and experimental spectroscopy (liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, FT-Raman/IR, 13C NMR, and 1H NMR analysis). To evaluate its chemical reactivity, FMO and MEP surface analyses were performed, while topological studies (ELF, LOL, and NCI) elucidated the compound's intermolecular interactions. Computational PES analysis is carried out to understand the relationship between molecule energies and their geometrical structures. Vibrational and NMR assignments obtained at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level showed close agreement with experimental FT-IR, FT-Raman, and NMR data, with RMSD values of 0.45–3.16 ppm for NMR chemical shifts. Docking simulations returned binding energies between −5.49 and −10.45 kcal mol−1 across the five target proteins, indicating favourable structural complementarity. Together, these results establish a validated structural and electronic profile for NHDIPSA and identify candidate protein targets for future experimental follow-up. No enzyme inhibition, antimicrobial, or cell-based assays were performed in this study; the biological terms used here refer to computationally predicted target compatibility, and experimental validation is left for future work.