Theoretical calculations of β‐lactam antibiotics. III. AM1, MNDO, and MINDO/3 calculations of hydrolysis of β‐lactam compound (azetidin‐2‐one ring)

Semiempirical AM1, MINDO/3, and MNDO methods have been used in the study of the alkaline hydrolysis of β‐lactam antibiotics through a base‐catalyzed, acyl‐cleavage, bimolecular mechanism. In this work, the hydroxyl ion has been chosen as nucleophilic agent and the azetidin‐2‐one ring like a model of β‐lactam antibiotic. The MINDO/3 method does not predict correctly the energies of small rings. This, together with the fact that, like MNDO, it cannot detect the occurrence of hydrogen bonds, gives rise to uncertain estimates of energy barriers. The AM1 method can be considered the most suitable for studying the hydrolysis of β‐lactam compounds.