Efficient analysis of highly complex nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of flexible solutes in ordered liquids by using molecular dynamics

Prediction of anisotropic NMR data without knowledge of alignment medium structure by surface decomposition

Prediction of anisotropic NMR data directly from solute-medium interaction is of significant theoretical and practical interest, particularly for structure elucidation, configurational analysis and conformational studies of complex organic molecules and natural products. Current prediction methods require an explicit structural model of the alignment medium: a requirement either impossible or impractical on a scale necessary for small organic molecules. Here we formulate a comprehensive mathematical framework for a parametrization protocol that deconvolutes an arbitrary surface of the medium into several simple local landscapes that are distributed over the medium's surface by specific orientational order parameters. The shapes and order parameters of these local landscapes are determined via fitting that maximizes the congruence between experimentally determined anisotropic NMR measurables and their predicted counterparts, thus avoiding the need for an a priori knowledge of the global medium morphology. This method achieves substantial improvements in the accuracy of predicted anisotropic NMR values compared to current methods, as demonstrated herein with sixteen natural products. Furthermore, because this formalism extracts structural commonalities of the medium by combining anisotropic NMR data from different compounds, its robustness and accuracy are expected to improve as more experimental data become available for further re-optimization of fitting parameters.

Principal molecular axis and transition dipole moment orientations in liquid crystal systems: an assessment based on studies of guest anthraquinone dyes in a nematic host

Analyses of MD simulations assess different definitions of the axes along which molecules align in a nematic host, and the effects of molecular flexibility on transition dipole moment orientations.

Experimental and molecular dynamics studies of anthraquinone dyes in a nematic liquid-crystal host: a rationale for observed alignment trends

The experimental alignment trend of a set of anthraquinone dyes in a nematic host is rationalised by calculated molecular order parameters and transition dipole moments.

Direct prediction of residual dipolar couplings of small molecules in a stretched gel by stochastic molecular dynamics simulations

Residual dipolar couplings are highly useful NMR parameters for calculating and refining molecular structures, dynamics, and interactions. For some applications, however, it is inevitable that the preferred orientation of a molecule in an alignment medium is calculated a priori. Several methods have been developed to predict molecular orientations and residual dipolar couplings. Being beneficial for macromolecules and selected small-molecule applications, such approaches lack sufficient accuracy for a large number of organic compounds for which the fine structure and eventually the flexibility of all involved molecules have to be considered or are limited to specific, well-studied liquid crystals. We introduce a simplified model for detailed all-atom molecular dynamics calculations with a polymer strand lined up along the principal axis as a new approach to simulate the preferred orientation of small to medium-sized solutes in polymer-based, gel-type alignment media. As is shown by a first example of strychnine in a polystyrene/CDCl3 gel, the simulations potentially enable the accurate prediction of residual dipolar couplings taking into account structural details and dynamic averaging effects of both the polymer and the solute.