Density fitting of intramonomer correlation effects in symmetry-adapted perturbation theory

Molecular Dynamics Study of the Hybridization between RNA and Modified Oligonucleotides

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are attractive drug candidates for many diseases as they can modulate the expression of gene networks. Recently, we discovered that DNAs targeting microRNA-22-3p (miR-22-3p) hold the potential for treating obesity and related metabolic disorders (type 2 diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)) by turning fat-storing white adipocytes into fat-burning adipocytes. In this work, we explored the effects of chemical modifications, including phosphorothioate (PS), locked nucleic acid (LNA), and peptide nucleic acid (PNA), on the structure and energy of DNA analogs by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. To achieve a reliable prediction of the hybridization free energy, the AMOEBA polarizable force field and the free energy perturbation technique were employed. The calculated hybridization free energies are generally compatible with previous experiments. For LNA and PNA, the enhanced duplex stability can be explained by the preorganization mechanism, i.e., the single strands adopt stable helical structures similar to those in the duplex. For PS, the S and R isomers (Sp and Rp) have preferences for C2'-endo and C3'-endo sugar puckering conformations, respectively, and therefore Sp is less stable than Rp in DNA/RNA hybrids. In addition, the solvation penalty of Rp accounts for its destabilization effect. PS-LNA is similar to LNA as the sugar puckering is dominated by the locked sugar ring. This work demonstrated that MD simulations with polarizable force fields are useful for the understanding and design of modified nucleic acids.

Symmetry-Adapted Perturbation Theory Decomposition of the Reaction Force: Insights into Substituent Effects Involved in Hemiacetal Formation Mechanisms

The decomposition of the reaction force based on symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) has been proposed. This approach was used to investigate the substituent effects along the reaction coordinate pathway for the hemiacetal formation mechanism between methanol and substituted aldehydes of the form CX₃CHO (X = H, F, Cl, and Br), providing a quantitative evaluation of the reaction-driving and reaction-retarding force components. Our results highlight the importance of more favorable electrostatic and induction effects in the reactions involving halogenated aldehydes that leads to lower activation energy barriers. These substituent effects are further elucidated by applying the functional-group partition of symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (F-SAPT). The results show that the reaction is largely driven by favorable direct noncovalent interactions between the CX₃ group on the aldehyde and the OH group on methanol.

Computational and Experimental Studies of Inhibitor Design for Aldolase A

Glycolytic enzyme fructose-bisphosphate aldolase A is an emerging therapeutic target in cancer. Recently, we have solved the crystal structure of murine aldolase in complex with naphthalene-2,6-diyl bisphosphate (ND1) that served as a template of the design of bisphosphate-based inhibitors. In this work, a series of ND1 analogues containing difluoromethylene (-CF₂), methylene (-CH₂), or aldehyde substitutions were designed. All designed compounds were studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with the AMOEBA force field. Both energetics and structural analyses have been done to understand the calculated binding free energies. The average distances between ligand and protein atoms for ND1 were very similar to those for the ND1 crystal structure, which indicates that our MD simulation is sampling the correct conformation well. CF₂ insertion lowers the binding free energy by 10-15 kcal/mol, while CF₂ substitution slightly increases the binding free energy, which matches the experimental measurement. In addition, we found that NDB with two CF₂ insertions, the strongest binder, is entropically driven, while others including NDA with one CF₂ insertion are all enthalpically driven. This work provides insights into the mechanisms underlying protein-phosphate binding and enhances the capability of applying computational and theoretical frameworks to model, predict, and design diagnostic strategies targeting cancer.

Understanding the Reactivity and Selectivity of Fluxional Chiral DMAP-Catalyzed Kinetic Resolutions of Axially Chiral Biaryls

Fluxional chiral DMAP-catalyzed kinetic resolutions of axially chiral biaryls were examined using density functional theory. Computational analyses lead to a revised understanding of this reaction in which the interplay of numerous non-covalent interactions control the conformation and flexibility of the active catalyst, the preferred mechanism, and the stereoselectivity. Notably, while the DMAP catalyst itself is confirmed to be highly fluxional, electrostatically driven π⋅⋅⋅π⁺ interactions render the active, acylated form of the catalyst highly rigid, explaining its pronounced stereoselectivity.

Study of the Wilcox torsion balance in solution for a Tröger's base derivative with hexyl-and heptyl substituents using a combined molecular mechanics and quantum chemistry approach

The folding equilibrium of the Wilcox torsion balance in solution has been studied using a molecular mechanics method for sampling the conformational space and semi-empirical and density-functional quantum chemistry methods for characterizing the relative stabilities of various solute-solvent clusters extracted with the aid of the MD-quench technique from the different simulations that were performed. The role of the solvent environment has been analyzed by choosing four solvents of different polarities, namely water, acetone, tetrachloromethane, and n-hexane. In all cases, it is found that the attractive intramolecular interactions in folded conformations are strongly compensated by the increase of the solute-solvent interaction energies when the molecule unfolds. The latter can be well explained by the larger number of solvent molecules that can bind to the Wilcox molecule when in an unfolded conformation. The results of this work therefore support the experimental results of Yang et al. (Nature Chem 5:1006, 2013) that the folding free energy of the Wilcox balance is strongly reduced in solution as compared to the gas phase.

Second-Order Dispersion Energy Based on Multireference Description of Monomers

We propose a method for calculating a second-order dispersion energy for weakly interacting multireference systems in arbitrary electronic states. It is based on response properties obtained from extended random phase approximation equations. The introduced formalism is general and requires only one- and two-particle reduced density matrices of monomers. We combine the new method with either generalized valence bond perfect pairing (GVB) or complete active space (CAS) self-consistent field description of the interacting systems. In addition to a general scheme, three approximations, leading to significant reduction of the computational cost, are developed by exploiting Dyall partitioning of the monomer Hamiltonians. For model multireference systems (H₂···H₂ and Be···Be) the method is accurate, unlike its single-reference-based counterpart. Neither GVB nor CAS description of single-reference monomers improves the dispersion energy with respect to the Hartree-Fock-based results.

Is the Fluorine in Molecules Dispersive? Is Molecular Electrostatic Potential a Valid Property to Explore Fluorine-Centered Non-Covalent Interactions?

Can two sites of positive electrostatic potential localized on the outer surfaces of two halogen atoms (and especially fluorine) in different molecular domains attract each other to form a non-covalent engagement? The answer, perhaps counterintuitive, is yes as shown here using the electronic structures and binding energies of the interactions for a series of 22 binary complexes formed between identical or different atomic domains in similar or related halogen-substituted molecules containing fluorine. These were obtained using various computational approaches, including density functional and ab initio first-principles theories with M06-2X, RHF, MP2 and CCSD(T). The physical chemistry of non-covalent bonding interactions in these complexes was explored using both Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules and Symmetry Adapted Perturbation Theories. The surface reactivity of the 17 monomers was examined using the Molecular Electrostatic Surface Potential approach. We have demonstrated inter alia that the dispersion term, the significance of which is not always appreciated, which emerges either from an energy decomposition analysis, or from a correlated calculation, plays a structure-determining role, although other contributions arising from electrostatic, exchange-repulsion and polarization effects are also important. The 0.0010 a.u. isodensity envelope, often used for mapping the electrostatic potential is found to provide incorrect information about the complete nature of the surface reactive sites on some of the isolated monomers, and can lead to a misinterpretation of the results obtained.

Study of stacking interactions between two neutral tetrathiafulvalene molecules in Cambridge Structural Database crystal structures and by quantum chemical calculations

Tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and its derivatives are very well known as electron donors with widespread use in the field of organic conductors and superconductors. Stacking interactions between two neutral TTF fragments were studied by analysing data from Cambridge Structural Database crystal structures and by quantum chemical calculations. Analysis of the contacts found in crystal structures shows high occurrence of parallel displaced orientations of TTF molecules. In the majority of the contacts, two TTF molecules are displaced along their longer C 2 axis. The most frequent geometry has the strongest TTF–TTF stacking interaction, with CCSD(T)/CBS energy of −9.96 kcal mol−1. All the other frequent geometries in crystal structures are similar to geometries of the minima on the calculated potential energy surface.

A comparison between hydrogen and halogen bonding: the hypohalous acid–water dimers, HOX⋯H2O (X = F, Cl, Br)

Hypohalous acids (HOX) are a class of molecules that play a key role in the atmospheric seasonal depletion of ozone and have the ability to form both hydrogen and halogen bonds.

Tuning Stacking Interactions between Asp-Arg Salt Bridges and Heterocyclic Drug Fragments

Stacking interactions can play an integral role in the strength and selectivity of protein-drug binding and are of particular interest given the ubiquity and variety of heterocyclic fragments in drugs. In addition to traditional stacking interactions between aromatic rings, stacking interactions involving heterocyclic drug fragments and protein salt bridges have also been observed. These "salt-bridge stacking interactions" can be quite strong but are not well understood. We studied stacked dimers of the acetate···guanidinium ion pair with a diverse set of 63 heterocycles using robust ab initio methods. The computed interaction energies span more than 10 kcal mol^-1, indicating the sensitivity of these salt-bridge stacking interactions to heterocycle features. Trends in both the strength and preferred geometry of these interactions can be understood through analyses of the electrostatic potentials and electric fields above the heterocycles. We have developed new heterocycle descriptors that quantify these effects and used them to create robust predictors of the strength of salt-bridge stacking interactions both in the gas phase and a protein-like dielectric environment. These predictive tools, combined with a set of qualitative guidelines, should facilitate the choice of heterocycles that maximize salt-bridge stacking interactions in drug binding sites.

Exchange-repulsion energy in QM/EFP

The effective fragment potential (EFP) is a quantum mechanics (QM)-based model designed to accurately describe intermolecular interactions. Hybrid QM/EFP calculations combine quantum mechanical methods with an EFP embedding to study complex systems in which many-body effects are relevant. As in EFP-only calculations, non-bonded interactions between the QM region and EFP fragments are computed as a sum of electrostatic, polarization, dispersion, and exchange-repulsion energies. The exchange-repulsion term is a computational bottleneck of the EFP calculations. Here, we present a general procedure for computing the QM/EFP exchange-repulsion interactions based on one-electron contributions to the QM Hamiltonian, by using Gaussian functions to represent localized molecular orbitals of the effective fragments. The accuracy of the exchange-repulsion and total QM/EFP interaction energies is evaluated on a diverse set of dimers, including complexes from the S22 dataset of non-covalent interactions. In most cases, the QM/EFP energies are at least as accurate as corresponding EFP energies. A simple and computationally efficient form of the introduced QM/EFP exchange-repulsion term will facilitate further developments and applications of QM/EFP methods.

A physically grounded damped dispersion model with particle mesh Ewald summation

Accurate modeling of dispersion is critical to the goal of predictive biomolecular simulations. To achieve this accuracy, a model must be able to correctly capture both the short-range and asymptotic behavior of dispersion interactions. We present here a damped dispersion model based on the overlap of charge densities that correctly captures both regimes. The overlap damped dispersion model represents a classical physical interpretation of dispersion: the interaction between the instantaneous induced dipoles of two distinct charge distributions. This model is shown to be an excellent fit with symmetry adapted perturbation theory dispersion energy calculations, yielding an RMS error on the S101x7 database of 0.5 kcal/mol. Moreover, the damping function used in this model is wholly derived and parameterized from the electrostatic dipole-dipole interaction, making it not only physically grounded but transferable as well.

The hydration structure of methylthiolate from QM/MM molecular dynamics

Thiols are widely present in biological systems, most notably as the side chain of cysteine amino acids in proteins. Thiols can be deprotonated to form a thiolate which affords a diverse range of enzymatic activity and modes for chemical modification of proteins. Parameters for modeling thiolates using molecular mechanical force fields have not yet been validated, in part due to the lack of structural data on thiolate solvation. Here, the CHARMM36 and Amber models for thiolates in aqueous solutions are assessed using free energy perturbation and hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The hydration structure of methylthiolate was calculated from 1 ns of QM/MM MD (PBE0-D3/def2-TZVP//TIP3P), which shows that the water-S^- distances are approximately 2 Å with a coordination number near 6. The CHARMM thiolate parameters predict a thiolate S radius close to the QM/MM value and predict a hydration Gibbs energy of -329.2 kJ/mol, close to the experimental value of -318 kJ/mol. The cysteine thiolate model in the Amber force field underestimates the thiolate radius by 0.2 Å and overestimates the thiolate hydration energy by 119 kJ/mol because it uses the same Lennard-Jones parameters for thiolates as for thiols. A recent Drude polarizable model for methylthiolate with optimized thiolate parameters also performs well. SAPT2+ [Symmetry Adapted Perturbation Theory (SAPT)] analysis indicates that exchange repulsion is larger for the methylthiolate, consistent with it having a more diffuse electron density distribution in comparison with the parent thiol. These data demonstrate that it is important to define distinct non-bonded parameters for the protonated/deprotonated states of amino acid side chains in molecular mechanical force fields.

Comparison of the DFT-SAPT and Canonical EDA Schemes for the Energy Decomposition of Various Types of Noncovalent Interactions

Interaction energies computed with density functional theory can be divided into physically meaningful components by symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (DFT-SAPT) or the canonical energy decomposition analysis (EDA). In this work, the decomposition results obtained by these schemes were compared for more than 200 hydrogen-, halogen-, and pnicogen-bonded, dispersion-bound, and mixed complexes to investigate their similarity in the evaluation of the nature of noncovalent interactions. BLYP functional with D3(BJ) correction was used for the EDA scheme, whereas asymptotically corrected PBE0 functional for DFT-SAPT provided some of the best combinations for description of noncovalent interactions. Both schemes provide similar results concerning total interaction energies and insight into the individual energy components. For most complexes, the dominant energetic term was identified equally by both decomposition schemes. Because the canonical EDA is computationally less demanding than the DFT-SAPT, the former can be especially used in cases where the systems investigated are very large.

Molecular dynamics investigation of water-exchange reactions on lanthanide ions in water/1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethylsufate ([EMIm][OTf])

We report a kinetic study of the water exchange on lanthanide ions in water/[1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium][trifluoromethylsufate] (water/[EMIm][OTf]). The results from ¹⁷O-NMR measurements show that the water-exchange rates in water/[EMIm][OTf] increase with decreasing size of the lanthanide ions. This trend for water-exchange is similar to the previously reported trend in water/1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate (water/[EMIm][EtSO₄]) but opposite to that in water. To gain atomic-level insight into these water-exchange reactions, molecular dynamics simulations for lanthanide ions in water/[EMIm][OTf] have been performed using the atomic-multipole-optimized-energetics-for-biomolecular-application polarizable force field. Our molecular dynamics simulations reproduce the experimental water-exchange rates in terms of the trend and provide possible explanations for the observed experimental behavior. The smaller lanthanide ions in water/[EMIm][OTf] undergo faster water exchange because the smaller lanthanide ions coordinate to the first shell [OTf]^- anions more tightly, resulting in a stronger screening effect for the second-shell water. The screening effect weakens the interaction of the lanthanide ions with the second-shell water molecules, facilitating the dissociation of water from the second-shell and subsequent association of water molecules from the outer solvation shells.

Dissociation Energy of the H2O···HF Dimer

Even though (H₂O)₂ and (HF)₂ are arguably the most thoroughly characterized prototypes for hydrogen bonding, their heterogeneous analogue H₂O···HF has received relatively little attention. Here we report that the experimental dissociation energy ( D₀) of this important paradigm for heterogeneous hydrogen bonding is too large by 2 kcal mol^-1 or 30% relative to our computed value of 6.3 kcal mol^-1. For reference, computational procedures similar to those employed here to compute D₀ (large basis set CCSD(T) computations with anharmonic corrections from second-order vibrational perturbation theory) provide results within 0.1 kcal mol^-1 of the experimental values for (H₂O)₂ and (HF)₂. Near the CCSD(T) complete basis set limit, the electronic dissociation energy for H₂O···HF is ∼4 kcal mol^-1 larger than those for (H₂O)₂ and (HF)₂ (∼9 kcal mol^-1 for the heterogeneous dimer vs ∼5 kcal mol^-1 for the homogeneous dimers). Results reported here from symmetry-adapted perturbation theory computations suggest that this large difference is primarily due to the induction contribution to the interaction energy.

Anisotropic lattice softening near the structural phase transition in the thermosalient crystal 1,2,4,5-tetrabromobenzene

The thermosalient effect (crystal jumping on heating) attracts much attention as both an intriguing academic phenomenon and in relation to its potential for the development of molecular actuators but its mechanism remains unclear. 1,2,4,5-Tetrabromobenzene (TBB) is one of the most extensively studied thermosalient compounds that has been shown previously to undergo a phase transition on heating, accompanied by crystal jumping and cracking. The difference in the crystal structures and intermolecular interaction energies of the low- and high-temperature phases is, however, too small to account for the large stress that arises over the course of the transformation. The energy is released spontaneously, and crystals jump across distances that exceed the crystal size by orders of magnitude. In the present work, the anisotropy of lattice strain is followed across the phase transition by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, focusing on the structural evolution from 273 to 343 K. A pronounced lattice softening is observed close to the transition point, with the structure becoming more rigid immediately after the phase transition. The diffraction studies are further supported by theoretical analysis of pairwise intermolecular energies and zone-centre lattice vibrations. Only three modes are found to monotonically soften up to the phase transition, with complex behaviour exhibited by the remaining lattice modes. The thermosalient effect is delayed with respect to the structural transformation itself. This can originate from the martensitic mechanism of the transformation, and the accumulation of stress associated with vibrational switching across the phase transition. The finding of this study sheds more light on the nature of the thermosalient effect in 1,2,4,5-tetrabromobenzene and can be applicable also to other thermosalient compounds.

An optimized charge penetration model for use with the AMOEBA force field

The principal challenge of using classical physics to model biomolecular interactions is capturing the nature of short-range interactions that drive biological processes from nucleic acid base stacking to protein-ligand binding. In particular most classical force fields suffer from an error in their electrostatic models that arises from an ability to account for the overlap between charge distributions occurring when molecules get close to each other, known as charge penetration. In this work we present a simple, physically motivated model for including charge penetration in the AMOEBA (Atomic Multipole Optimized Energetics for Biomolecular Applications) force field. With a function derived from the charge distribution of a hydrogen-like atom and a limited number of parameters, our charge penetration model dramatically improves the description of electrostatics at short range. On a database of 101 biomolecular dimers, the charge penetration model brings the error in the electrostatic interaction energy relative to the ab initio SAPT electrostatic interaction energy from 13.4 kcal mol^-1 to 1.3 kcal mol^-1. The model is shown not only to be robust and transferable for the AMOEBA model, but also physically meaningful as it universally improves the description of the electrostatic potential around a given molecule.

Bonding and spectroscopic analyses of N2O-CS2 and N2O-OCS heterodimer complexes and their atmospheric consequences

Different isomers of the valence isoelectronic pairs of the heterodimers N₂O-SCS and N₂O-OCS were investigated using MP2 and CCSD(T) methods with the aug-cc-pVXZ (X = D, T) basis set with anharmonic frequency calculations. Interaction energies of both the heterodimers were estimated at the CBS limit and for CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ. One isomer was located for the N₂O-SCS heterodimer. In the case of the N₂O-OCS heterodimer, three planar slipped-parallel isomers were characterized. There was no significant change in electron density at the bond critical points (BCPs) of various intra-bonds but the presence of inter-bonds with a weak electron density at the BCPs in the complexes was found as per the results from the quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) analysis. The interorbital interactions of the monomer in the heterodimers are discussed herein in terms of the natural bond orbital (NBO) charge transfer. Symmetry-adapted perturbation analysis was performed for all the isomers. In the case of the stable complex of N₂O-SCS, induction dominated over the dispersion energy. Among the N₂O-OCS isomers, the dispersion effect predominates for the most stable isomer, while for the other two isomers, the induction effect is dominant. Frequency calculations for these complexes showed a number of interactions induced by the low frequency modes in the far IR region. The atmospheric implications are also discussed for these complexes.

ζ-Glycine: insight into the mechanism of a polymorphic phase transition

Glycine is the simplest and most polymorphic amino acid, with five phases having been structurally characterized at atmospheric or high pressure. A sixth form, the elusive ζ phase, was discovered over a decade ago as a short-lived intermediate which formed as the high-pressure ∊ phase transformed to the γ form on decompression. However, its structure has remained unsolved. We now report the structure of the ζ phase, which was trapped at 100 K enabling neutron powder diffraction data to be obtained. The structure was solved using the results of a crystal structure prediction procedure based on fully ab initio energy calculations combined with a genetic algorithm for searching phase space. We show that the fate of ζ-glycine depends on its thermal history: although at room temperature it transforms back to the γ phase, warming the sample from 100 K to room temperature yielded β-glycine, the least stable of the known ambient-pressure polymorphs.

Estimating and modeling charge transfer from the SAPT induction energy

Recent studies using quantum mechanics energy decomposition methods, for example, SAPT and ALMO, have revealed that the charge transfer energy may play an important role in short ranged inter-molecular interactions, and have a different distance dependence comparing with the polarization energy. However, the charge transfer energy component has been ignored in most current polarizable or non-polarizable force fields. In this work, first, we proposed an empirical decomposition of SAPT induction energy into charge transfer and polarization energy that mimics the regularized SAPT method (ED-SAPT). This empirical decomposition is free of the divergence issue, hence providing a good reference for force field development. Then, we further extended this concept in the context of AMOEBA polarizable force field, proposed a consistent approach to treat the charge transfer phenomenon. Current results show a promising application of this charge transfer model in future force field development. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Psi4 1.1: An Open-Source Electronic Structure Program Emphasizing Automation, Advanced Libraries, and Interoperability

Psi4 is an ab initio electronic structure program providing methods such as Hartree-Fock, density functional theory, configuration interaction, and coupled-cluster theory. The 1.1 release represents a major update meant to automate complex tasks, such as geometry optimization using complete-basis-set extrapolation or focal-point methods. Conversion of the top-level code to a Python module means that Psi4 can now be used in complex workflows alongside other Python tools. Several new features have been added with the aid of libraries providing easy access to techniques such as density fitting, Cholesky decomposition, and Laplace denominators. The build system has been completely rewritten to simplify interoperability with independent, reusable software components for quantum chemistry. Finally, a wide range of new theoretical methods and analyses have been added to the code base, including functional-group and open-shell symmetry adapted perturbation theory, density-fitted coupled cluster with frozen natural orbitals, orbital-optimized perturbation and coupled-cluster methods (e.g., OO-MP2 and OO-LCCD), density-fitted multiconfigurational self-consistent field, density cumulant functional theory, algebraic-diagrammatic construction excited states, improvements to the geometry optimizer, and the "X2C" approach to relativistic corrections, among many other improvements.

Attractive Interactions between Heteroallenes and the Cucurbituril Portal

In this paper, we report on the noteworthy attractive interaction between organic azides and the portal carbonyls of cucurbiturils. Five homologous bis-α,ω-azidoethylammonium alkanes were prepared, where the number of methylene groups between the ammonium groups ranges from 4 to 8. Their interactions with cucurbit[6]uril were studied by NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, and computational methods. Remarkably, while the distance between the portal plane and most atoms at the guest end groups increases progressively with the molecular size, the β-nitrogen atoms maintain a constant distance from the portal plane in all homologues, pointing at a strong attractive interaction between the azide group and the portal. Both crystallography and NMR support a specific electrostatic interaction between the carbonyl and the azide β-nitrogen, which stabilizes the canonical resonance form with positive charge on the β-nitrogen and negative charge on the γ-nitrogen. Quantum computational analyses strongly support electrostatics, in the form of orthogonal dipole-dipole interaction, as the main driver for this attraction. The alternative mechanism of n → π* orbital delocalization does not seem to play a significant role in this interaction. The computational studies also indicate that the interaction is not limited to azides, but generalizes to other isoelectronic heteroallene functions, such as isocyanate and isothiocyanate. This essentially unexploited attractive interaction could be more broadly utilized as a tool not only in relation to cucurbituril chemistry, but also for the design of novel supramolecular architectures.

Interplay among Electrostatic, Dispersion, and Steric Interactions: Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Calculations of π-Hydrogen Bonded Complexes

π-Hydrogen bonding interactions are ubiquitous in both materials and biology. Despite their relatively weak nature, great progress has been made in their investigation by experimental and theoretical methods, but this becomes significantly more complicated when secondary intermolecular interactions are present. In this study, the effect of successive methyl substitution on the supramolecular structure and interaction energy of indole⋅⋅⋅methylated benzene (ind⋅⋅⋅n-mb, n=1-6) complexes is probed through a combination of supersonic jet experiments and benchmark-quality quantum chemical calculations. It is demonstrated that additional secondary interactions introduce a subtle interplay among electrostatic and dispersion forces, as well as steric repulsion, which fine-tunes the overall structural motif. Resonant two-photon ionization and IR-UV double-resonance spectroscopy techniques are used to probe jet-cooled ind⋅⋅⋅n-mb (n=2, 3, 6) complexes, with redshifting of the N-H IR stretching frequency showing that increasing the degree of methyl substitution increases the strength of the primary N-H⋅⋅⋅π interaction. Ab initio harmonic frequency and binding energy calculations confirm this trend for all six complexes. Electronic spectra of the three dimers are broad and structureless, with quantum chemical calculations revealing that this is likely to be due to multiple tilted conformations of each dimer possessing similar stabilization energies.

Rapid Estimation of Catalytic Efficiency by Cumulative Atomic Multipole Moments: Application to Ketosteroid Isomerase Mutants

We propose a simple atomic multipole electrostatic model to rapidly evaluate the effects of mutation on enzyme activity and test its performance on wild-type and mutant ketosteroid isomerase. The predictions of our atomic multipole model are similar to those obtained with symmetry-adapted perturbation theory at a fraction of the computational cost. We further show that this approach is relatively insensitive to the precise amino acid side chain conformation in mutants and may thus be useful in computational enzyme (re)design.

Noncovalent Interactions in Specific Recognition Motifs of Protein-DNA Complexes

In view of the importance of protein-DNA interactions in biological processes, we extracted from the Protein Data Bank several one-to-one complexes of amino acids with nucleotides that matched certain geometric and energetic specificity criteria and investigated them using quantum chemistry methods. The CCSD(T)/CBS interaction energies were used as a benchmark to compare the performance of the MP2.5, MP2-F12, DFT-D3, and PM6-D3H4 methods. All methods yielded good agreement with the reference values, with declining accuracy from MP2.5 to PM6-D3H4. Regardless of the site of interaction, the minima found after full optimization in implicit solvent with high dielectric constant were close to the structures experimentally detected in protein-DNA complexes. According to DFT-SAPT analysis, the nature of noncovalent interactions strongly depends on the type of amino acid. The negatively charged sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA heavily influences the strength of interactions and must be included in the computational model, especially in the case of interactions with charged amino acids.

Local decomposition of imaginary polarizabilities and dispersion coefficients

We present a new way to compute the two-body contribution to the dispersion energy using ab initio theory.

Symmetry-Adapted Perturbation Theory Energy Analysis of Alkyl Fluorine-Aromatic Interactions in Torsion Balance Systems

Symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) calculations are carried out to elucidate the intermolecular interactions present between fluorinated and nonfluorinated alkyl chain groups and aromatic π systems in the folded and unfolded conformers of Wilcox torsion balance systems. The calculations predict the folded conformers to be 2.0-2.3 kcal/mol more stable than the unfolded conformers, with the preference for the folded conformer being greater in the fluorinated alkyl chain case. We also establish that a simple electrostatic analysis, based on atomic charges, is inadequate for understanding the conformational preferences of these systems. In the folded conformers, there are sizable charge penetration contributions that are not recovered by point charge models. Additionally, the SAPT analysis reveals that exchange-repulsion interactions make a significant contribution to the relative stability of the folded and unfolded conformer.

General van der Waals potential for common organic molecules

This work presents a systematic development of a new van der Waals potential (vdW2016) for common organic molecules based on symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) energy decomposition. The Buf-14-7 function, as well as Cubic-mean and Waldman-Hagler mixing rules were chosen given their best performance among other popular potentials. A database containing 39 organic molecules and 108 dimers was utilized to derive a general set of vdW parameters, which were further validated on nucleobase stacking systems and testing organic dimers. The vdW2016 potential is anticipated to significantly improve the accuracy and transferability of new generations of force fields for organic molecules.