There is strong evidence that D-lactate at blood plasma levels as low as 8 mmol/L is responsible for the profound neurological depression often observed in diarrheic neonatal calves. A compound that will facilitate the rapid in vivo conversion of D-lactate into a non-toxic specie, such as pyruvate, is highly desirable in order to reduce calf mortality. The reaction mechanism that occurs between D-lactic acid and B2O3, and corresponding energetics of the intermediate and transition states, are predicted with 2nd order M�ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) in conjunction with the 6-31G* basis set.  Initial results indicate that boron trioxide energetically prefers to interact with the D-lactate ion at the hydroxyl group on the �-carbon with a transition-state energy on the order of 0.1 Hartrees.

Second-order MØller-Plesset (MP2) calculations on the D-lactate acid-boron trioxide reaction

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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