Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Study of Uracil in Aqueous Solution

Photoinduced hole hopping through tryptophans in proteins

Hole hopping through tryptophan/tyrosine chains enables rapid unidirectional charge transport over long distances. We have elucidated structural and dynamical factors controlling hopping speed and efficiency in two modified azurin constructs that include a rhenium(I) sensitizer, Re(His)(CO)₃(dmp)⁺, and one or two tryptophans (W₁, W₂). Experimental kinetics investigations showed that the two closely spaced (3 to 4 Å) intervening tryptophans dramatically accelerated long-range electron transfer (ET) from Cu^I to the photoexcited sensitizer. In our theoretical work, we found that time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics/molecular dynamics (QM/MM/MD) trajectories of low-lying triplet excited states of Re^I(His)(CO)₃(dmp)⁺-W₁(-W₂) exhibited crossings between sensitizer-localized (*Re) and charge-separated [Re^I(His)(CO)₃(dmp^•-)/(W₁ ^•+ or W₂ ^•+)] (CS1 or CS2) states. Our analysis revealed that the distances, angles, and mutual orientations of ET-active cofactors fluctuate in a relatively narrow range in which the cofactors are strongly coupled, enabling adiabatic ET. Water-dominated electrostatic field fluctuations bring *Re and CS1 states to a crossing where *Re(CO)₃(dmp)⁺←W₁ ET occurs, and CS1 becomes the lowest triplet state. ET is promoted by solvation dynamics around *Re(CO)₃(dmp)⁺(W₁); and CS1 is stabilized by Re(dmp^•-)/W₁ ^•+ electron/hole interaction and enhanced W₁ ^•+ solvation. The second hop, W₁ ^•+←W₂, is facilitated by water fluctuations near the W₁/W₂ unit, taking place when the electrostatic potential at W₂ drops well below that at W₁ ^•+ Insufficient solvation and reorganization around W₂ make W₁ ^•+←W₂ ET endergonic, shifting the equilibrium toward W₁ ^•+ and decreasing the charge-separation yield. We suggest that multiscale TDDFT/MM/MD is a suitable technique to model the simultaneous evolution of photogenerated excited-state manifolds.

Modeling the Ultrafast Electron Attachment Dynamics of Solvated Uracil

Electron attachment to DNA by low energy electrons can lead to DNA damage, so a fundamental understanding of how electrons interact with the components of nucleic acids in solution is an open challenge. In solution, low energy electrons can generate presolvated electrons, e_pre^-, which are efficiently scavanged by pyrimidine nucleobases to form transient negative ions, able to relax to either stable valence bound anions or undergo dissociative electron detachment or transfer to other parts of DNA/RNA leading to strand breakages. In order to understand the initial electron attachment dynamics, this paper presents a joint molecular dynamics and high-level electronic structure study into the behavior of the electronic states of the solvated uracil anion. Both the valence π* and nonvalence e_pre^- states of the solvated uracil system are studied, and the effect of the solvent environment and the geometric structure of the uracil core are uncoupled to gain insight into the physical origin of the stabilization of the solvated uracil anion. Solvent reorganization is found to play a dominant role followed by relaxation of the uracil core.

An ab initio molecular dynamics study of benzene in water at supercritical conditions: Structure, dynamics, and polarity of hydration shell water and the solute

Anisotropic structure and dynamics of the hydration shell of a benzene solute in supercritical water are investigated by means of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. The polarity and structural distortion of the benzene solute in supercritical water are also investigated in this study. Calculations are done at 673 K for three different densities of the solvent. The simulations are carried out using the Becke-Lee-Yang-Parr (BLYP) and also the Becke-Lee-Yang-Parr functional including dispersion corrections of Grimme (BYLP-D). The structural anisotropy is found to exist even at supercritical conditions as elucidated by the radial distribution functions of different conical regions and also by angular and spatial distribution functions. The benzene-water πH-bond and also the water-water hydrogen bonds are found to exist even at the supercritical temperature of 673 K. However, the numbers of these hydrogen bonds are reduced substantially with a decrease in water density. The water molecules in the axial region of benzene are found to be preferably oriented with one OH vector pointing toward the benzene ring, whereas the water molecules located in the equatorial region are found to orient their dipoles mostly parallel to the ring plane. The orientational distributions, however, are found to be rather broad at the supercritical temperature due to thermal fluctuations. Although the water molecules have faster dynamics at these supercritical conditions, a slight difference is observed in the dynamics of the solvation shell and bulk molecules. The conformational flexibility of the ring is found to be enhanced which causes an increase in polarity of the benzene solute in water under supercritical conditions.

Vibrational investigation of nucleobases by means of divide and conquer semiclassical dynamics

In this work, we report a computational study of the vibrational features of four different nucleobases employing the divide-and-conquer semiclassical initial value representation molecular dynamics method. Calculations are performed on uracil, cytosine, thymine, and adenine. Results show that the overall accuracy with respect to experiments is within 20 wavenumbers, regardless of the dimensionality of the nucleobase. Vibrational estimates are accurate even in the complex case of cytosine, where two relevant conformers are taken into account. These results are promising in the perspective of future studies on more complex systems, such as nucleotides or nucleobase pairs.

Solvation and Aggregation of Meta-Aminobenzoic Acid in Water: Density Functional Theory and Molecular Dynamics Study

Meta-aminobenzoic acid, an important model system in the study of polymorphism and crystallization of active pharmaceutical ingredients, exist in water in both the nonionic (mABA) and zwitterionic (mABA^±) forms. However, the constituent molecules of the polymorph that crystallizes from aqueous solutions are zwitterionic. This study reports atomistic simulations of the events surrounding the early stage of crystal nucleation of meta-aminobenzoic acid from aqueous solutions. Ab initio molecular dynamics was used to simulate the hydration of mABA^± and mABA and to quantify the interaction of these molecules with the surrounding water molecules. Density functional theory calculations were conducted to determine the low-lying energy conformers of meta-aminobenzoic acid dimers and to compute the Gibbs free energies in water of nonionic, (mABA)₂, zwitterionic, (mABA^±)₂, and nonionic-zwitterionic, (mABA)(mABA^±), species. Classical molecular dynamics simulations of mixed mABA–mABA^± aqueous solutions were carried out to examine the aggregation of meta-aminobenzoic acid. According to these simulations, the selective crystallization of the polymorphs whose constituent molecules are zwitterionic is driven by the formation of zwitterionic dimers in solution, which are thermodynamically more stable than (mABA)₂ and (mABA)(mABA^±) pairs. This work represents a paradigm of the role of molecular processes during the early stages of crystal nucleation in affecting polymorph selection during crystallization from solution.

Anisotropic structure and dynamics of the solvation shell of a benzene solute in liquid water from ab initio molecular dynamics simulations

The anisotropic structure and dynamics of the hydration shell of a benzene solute in liquid water have been investigated by means of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations using the BLYP (Becke–Lee–Yang–Parr) and dispersion corrected BLYP-D functionals.

Infrared Spectroscopy of N-Methylacetamide Revisited by ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The density functional theory based molecular dynamics simulation method ("Car-Parrinello") was applied in a numerical study of the electronic properties, hydrogen bonding, and infrared spectroscopy of the trans and cis isomer of N-methylacetamide in aqueous solution. A detailed analysis of the electronic structure of the solvated molecules, in terms of localized Wannier functions and Born atomic charges, is presented. Two schemes for the computation of the solute infrared absorption spectrum are investigated:  In the first method the spectrum is determined by Fourier transforming the time correlation function of the solute dipole as determined from the Wannier function analysis. The second method uses instead the molecular current-current correlation function computed from the Born charges and atomic velocities. The resulting spectral properties of trans- and cis-NMA are carefully compared to each other and to experimental results. We find that the two solvated isomers can be clearly distinguished by their infrared spectral profile in the 1000-2000 cm(-)(1) range.

A first-principles theoretical study of hydrogen-bond dynamics and vibrational spectral diffusion in aqueous ionic solution: Water in the hydration shell of a fluoride ion

We present a first-principles simulation study of vibrational spectral diffusion and hydrogen-bond dynamics in solution of a fluoride ion in deuterated water. The present calculations are based on ab initio molecular dynamics simulation for trajectory generation and wavelet analysis for calculations of frequency fluctuations. The O–D bonds of deuterated water in the anion hydration shell are found to have lower stretching frequency than the bulk water. The dynamical calculations of vibrational spectral diffusion for hydration shell water molecules reveal three time scales: a short-time relaxation (~100 fs) corresponding to the dynamics of intact ion-water hydrogen bonds, a slower relaxation (~7.5 ps) corresponding to the lifetimes of fluoride ion-water hydrogen bonds, and an even longer time scale (~26 ps) associated with the escape dynamics of water from the anion hydration shell. However, the slowest time scale is not observed when the vibrational spectral diffusion is calculated over O–D bonds of all water molecules, including those in the bulk.

Infrared spectroscopy of the alanine dipeptide analog in liquid water with DFT-MD. Direct evidence for P(II)/beta conformations

Following our previous work [J. Phys. Chem. B. Lett., 2009, 113, 10059], DFT-based molecular dynamics (DFTMD) simulations of 2-Ala peptide (i.e. Ac-Ala-NHMe dialanine peptide analog with methyl group caps at the extremities) immersed in liquid water at room temperature are reported. Our goal here is the theoretical calculation of the infrared spectrum of aqueous 2-Ala, in order to provide a definitive understanding of the average conformation adopted by this peptide in the liquid phase, taking into account solute and solvent at the same theoretical level of representation. We find that the experimental Amide I-II band predominantly results from a mixture of partially unfolded P(II) and unfolded beta conformational equilibrium of aqueous 2-Ala at room temperature.

Theoretical spectroscopy of floppy peptides at room temperature. A DFTMD perspective: gas and aqueous phase

Theoretical spectroscopy is mandatory for a precise understanding and assignment of experimental spectra recorded at finite temperature. We review here room temperature DFT-based molecular dynamics simulations for the purpose of interpreting finite temperature infrared spectra of peptides of increasing size and complexity, in terms of temperature-dependent conformational dynamics and flexibility, and vibrational anharmonicities (potential energy surface anharmonicities, vibrational mode couplings and dipole anharmonicities). We take examples from our research projects in order to illustrate the main key-points and strengths of dynamical spectra modeling in that context. The calculations are presented in relation to room temperature gas phase IR-MPD experiments and room temperature liquid phase IR absorption experiments. These illustrations of floppy polypeptides have been chosen in order to convey the following ideas: temperature-dependent spectra modeling is pivotal for a precise understanding of gas phase spectra recorded at room temperature, including conformational dynamics and vibrational anharmonicities; harmonic spectroscopy (as commonly performed in the literature) can be misleading and even erroneous for a proper interpretation of spectra recorded at finite temperature; taking into account vibrational anharmonicities is pivotal for a proper interplay between theory and experiments; amide I-III bands are not necessarily the most relevant fingerprints for unraveling the local structures of peptides and more complex systems; liquid phase simulations have unraveled relationships between the zwitterionic properties of the peptide bonds and infrared signatures. The review presents a state-of-the-art account of the domain and offers perspectives and new developments for future still more challenging applications.

Unravelling the conformational dynamics of the aqueous alanine dipeptide with first-principle molecular dynamics

First principle DFT-based molecular dynamics simulations are performed in order to bring new insights into the conformational dynamics of the alanine dipeptide analogue Ac-Ala-NHMe (with methyl group caps at the extremities) immersed in liquid water at ambient temperature. Two simulations have been run for a total of 100 ps, which allows for a relevant statistical sampling of the phase space, at the ab initio level. PII-beta equilibrium and (PII-beta)-alphaR conformational interconversions are obtained, without a free-energy barrier for the Phi angle and with a rather low barrier of 2-3 kcal/mol for the Psi angle, easily overcome from solute-solvent energy transfers. We furthermore give first insights into the rather strong zwitterionic character of the peptide bonds of the dipeptide when immersed in the liquid. The structural and zwitterionic properties extracted from first-principle dynamics in the liquid phase will be useful as benchmarks for force field developments.

Alanine polypeptide structural fingerprints at room temperature: what can be gained from non-harmonic Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations

Structural infrared fingerprints of neutral gas phase alanine peptides of increasing size and complexity (dipeptide, octapeptide, and beta-strand peptide) are characterized through DFT-based Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations. Harmonic and nonharmonic vibrational signatures are calculated from the time correlation of the dipole moment of the gas phase peptide in a direct way (without any approximation) respectively from low temperature (20 K) and room temperature (300 K) molecular dynamics. Our main purpose is to answer the two following questions: (i) Is the direct inclusion of temperature for the calculation of infrared spectra mandatory for the comprehension of the vibrational signatures experimentally recorded at room temperature? (ii) To what extent is the amide I, II, and III domain sensitive enough to the local structure of the peptides, to provide vibrational signatures that can be definitely used to assess the peptide conformation at 300 K?

A first principles theoretical study of vibrational spectral diffusion and hydrogen bond dynamics in aqueous ionic solutions: D2O in hydration shells of Cl(-) ions

A theoretical study of vibrational spectral diffusion and hydrogen bond dynamics in aqueous ionic solutions is presented from first principles without employing any empirical potential models. The present calculations are based on ab initio molecular dynamics for trajectory generation and wavelet analysis of the simulated trajectories for time dependent frequency calculations. Results are obtained for two different deuterated aqueous solutions: the first one is a relatively dilute solution of a single Cl(-) ion and the second one is a concentrated solution of NaCl ( approximately 3M) dissolved in liquid D(2)O. It is found that the frequencies of OD bonds in the anion hydration shell, i.e., those which are hydrogen bonded to the chloride ion, have a higher stretch frequency than those in the bulk water. Also, on average, the frequencies of hydration shell OD modes are found to increase with increase in the anion-water hydrogen bond distance. On the dynamical side, when the vibrational spectral diffusion is calculated exclusively for the hydration shell water molecules in the first solution, the dynamics reveals three time scales: a short-time relaxation ( approximately 200 fs) corresponding to the dynamics of intact ion-water hydrogen bonds, a slower relaxation ( approximately 3 ps) corresponding to the lifetimes of chloride ion-water hydrogen bonds, and another longer-time constant ( approximately 20 ps) corresponding to the escape dynamics of water from the anion hydration shell. Existence of such three time scales for hydration shell water molecules was also reported earlier for water containing a single iodide ion using classical molecular dynamics [B. Nigro et al., J. Phys. Chem. A 110, 11237 (2006)]. Hence, the present study confirms the basic results of this earlier work using a different methodology. However, when the vibrational spectral diffusion is calculated over all the OD modes, only two time scales of approximately 150 fs and approximately 2.7 ps are found without the slowest component of approximately 20 ps. This is likely because of the very small weight that the hydration shell water molecules carry to the overall spectral diffusion in the solution containing a single ion. For the concentrated solution also, the slowest component of approximately 20 ps is not found in the spectral diffusion of all water molecules because a distinct separation between the hydration shell and bulk water in terms of their stretch frequencies does not hold at this high concentration regime. The present first principles results are compared with those of the available experiments and classical simulations.

Ab initio molecular dynamics of protonated dialanine and comparison to infrared multiphoton dissociation experiments

Finite temperature Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations are performed for the protonated dialanine peptide in vacuo, in relation to infrared multiphoton dissociation experiments. The simulations emphasize the flexibility of the different torsional angles at room temperature and the dynamical exchange between different conformers which were previously identified as stable at 0 K. A proton transfer occurring spontaneously at the N-terminal side is also observed and characterized. The theoretical infrared absorption spectrum is computed from the dipole time correlation function, and, in contrast to traditional static electronic structure calculations, it accounts directly for anharmonic and finite temperature effects. The comparison to the experimental infrared multiphoton dissociation spectrum turns out very good in terms of both band positions and band shapes. It does help the identification of a predominant conformer and the attribution of the different bands. The synergy shown between the experimental and theoretical approaches opens the door to the study of the vibrational properties of complex and floppy biomolecules in the gas phase at finite temperature.

Tautomerism of Uracil and 5-Bromouracil in a Microcosmic Environment with Water and Metal Ions. What Roles Do Metal Ions Play?

The base tautomerization processes of uracil/5-bromouracil were investigated in a microcosmic environment with both H2O and Na+ (W-M environment). It was found that uracil was more stable in the W-M environment than in the microcosmic environment with only water, which suggested that the metal ions and water work cooperated to maintain the classical nucleic acid bases. However, 5-bromouracil, a chemical mutagen, was found to be less stable than uracil in the W-M environment. Why the 5-bromouracil is easier to tautomerize and therefore induce gene mutation was explained to some extent. Further research revealed that the water molecule would assist the tautomerization in the W-M environment. However, the metal ions in different regions play absolutely opposite roles: in one region, the metal ions can prevent the base from tautomerizing, whereas in another region, the metal ion can assist the tautomerization process. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of ionization of the base, it seems BrU has a stronger tendency to lose the proton at N3, which is an intrinsic consequence of the bromine atom and is not affected by the metal cation.

Extracting effective normal modes from equilibrium dynamics at finite temperature

A general method for obtaining effective normal modes of a molecular system from molecular dynamics simulations is presented. The method is based on a localization criterion for the Fourier transformed velocity time-correlation functions of the effective modes. For a given choice of the localization function used, the method becomes equivalent to the principal mode analysis (PMA) based on covariance matrix diagonalization. On the other hand, a proper choice of the localization function leads to a novel method with a strong analogy with the usual normal mode analysis of equilibrium structures, where the Hessian system at the minimum energy structure is replaced by the thermal averaged Hessian, although the Hessian itself is never actually calculated. This method does not introduce any extra numerical cost during the simulation and bears the same simplicity as PMA itself. It can thus be readily applied to ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Three such examples are provided here. First we recover effective normal modes of an isolated formaldehyde molecule computed at 20 K in very good agreement with the results of a normal mode analysis performed at its equilibrium structure. We then illustrate the applicability of the method for liquid phase studies. The effective normal modes of a water molecule in liquid water and of a uracil molecule in aqueous solution can be extracted from ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of these two systems at 300 K.

Structure and Raman Spectrum of Clavulanic Acid in Aqueous Solution

The calculation of the vibrational Raman spectrum of enzyme-bound beta-lactamase inhibitors may be of help to understand the mechanisms responsible for bacterial drug resistance. Here, we present a study of the solvation structure and the vibrational properties of clavulanate, an important beta-lactamase inhibitor, in aqueous solution as obtained from full quantum and hybrid empirical/quantum molecular dynamics simulations at ambient conditions. The analysis of the vibrational density of states indicates that hybrid empirical/quantum mechanical simulations are able to properly describe the vibrational levels of clavulanate in solution. In addition, we propose a computationally efficient protocol to calculate the vibrational Raman effect for large solute molecules in water, which is able to faithfully reproduce the experimentally recorded clavulanate Raman spectrum and discloses the possibility to employ hybrid simulations to assign the experimental Raman spectra of inhibitors bound to beta-lactamases.

Ab initio molecular dynamics study of the hydration of the formohydroxamate anion

We apply ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) to study the hydration structures and electronic properties of the formohydroxamate anion in liquid water. We consider the cis- nitrogen-deprotonated, cis- oxygen-deprotonated, and trans- oxygen-deprotonated formohydroxamate tautomers. They form an average of 6.3, 6.9, and 6.0 hydrogen bonds with water molecules, respectively. The predicted pair correlation functions and time dependence of the hydration numbers suggest that water is highly structured around the nominally negatively charged oxime oxygen in O-deprotonated tautomers but significantly less so around the nitrogen atom in the N-deprotonated species. Wannier function analysis suggests that, in the O-deprotonated anions, the negative charge is concentrated on the oxime oxygen, while in the N-deprotonated case, it is partially delocalized between the nitrogen and the adjoining oxime oxygen atom.

Combined use of Overhauser spectroscopy and NMR diffusion experiments for mapping the hydration structure of nucleosides: structure and dynamics of uridine in water

Complementary results from 13C intermolecular nuclear Overhauser effects (NOE), 1H-13C heteronuclear Overhauser spectroscopy (HOSEY) and 1H-NMR diffusion measurements were used for probing the structure of the first solvation shell of uridine in water. It is demonstrated that a cyclic dihydrate is formed. The two water molecules produce two hydrogen bonds with the two oxygen atoms from the pyrimidine ring and accept only one hydrogen bond from the amide proton. The dihydrate has only a short lifetime as compared with the rotational correlation time of the free nucleoside. The chemical exchange constant of the amide proton with water is then estimated by diffusion experiments. The results are consistent with previous data obtained for uracil in water and provide interesting information about water accessibility in nucleic acid bases.

Insight into the solvent effect: A density functional theory study of cisplatin hydrolysis

The solvent effect on reactions in solutions is crucial for many systems. In this study, the reaction barrier with respect to the number of solvent molecules included in the system is systematically studied using density function theory calculations. Our results show that the barriers rapidly converge with respect to the number of solvent molecules. The solvent effect is investigated by calculating cisplatin hydrolysis in several types of solvents. The results are analyzed and a linear relationship between the reaction barrier and the interaction strength of solvent-reactants is found. Insight into the general solvent effect is obtained.

Reaction Mechanism of Uracil Bromination by HBrO: A New Way To Generate the Enol−Keto Form of 5-Bromouracil

Knowledge on the uracil bromination reaction is helpful for understanding the origin of the mutagenicity of 5-bromouracil (BrU). To get more details about this reaction, we explore the corresponding reaction mechanism by theoretical method. A total of seven pathways were studied for this purpose. The diketo form of BrU is observed as the main product in these pathways, which agrees well with experimental results. The most energy-favorable reaction pathway is found to be that Br and OH attacked the opposite sides of uracil. The reaction intermediate reported in the experiment is predicted to be reasonably stable. In the following step, a dehydration process occurs between H11 and O13-H14 when there are no explicit H(2)O taking part. However, when there are explicit water molecules in the environment, explicit H(2)O will lower the reaction barrier in the formation of reaction intermediates and the final product BrU. A proton-transfer process from C5 to O10 is facilitated by explicit H(2)O, which results in enol-keto form intermediate of this modified base (defined as BrU*). These results indicate a new way to generate the enol-keto form of BrU.