Combination of solid-state NMR, molecular mechanics and DFT calculations for the molecular structure determination of methyl glycoside benzoates

A reliable method for molecular structure determination, excluding single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD), has been applied to six methyl glycoside tetrabenzoates. The proposed method is based on a global conformational search using molecular mechanics and subsequent DFT calculations guided by a solid-state NMR experiment. The accuracy of the applied method has been verified on three methyl glycoside benzoates for which the SCXRD analysis has been completed. It appeared that the calculated conformations of unprivileged energy could be found in the solid state. Bulky substituents (benzoates) exerted less energetically favored interactions in crystals in contrast to isolated molecules. Therefore, solid-state NMR was revealed to be an indispensable approach for choosing credible conformations from the calculated conformations.