Reaction dynamics of Diels-Alder reactions from machine learned potentials

Recent advances in the development of reactive machine-learned potentials (MLPs) promise to transform reaction modelling. However, such methods have remained computationally expensive and limited to experts. Here, we employ different MLP methods (ACE, NequIP, GAP), combined with automated fitting and active learning, to study the reaction dynamics of representative Diels-Alder reactions. We demonstrate that the ACE and NequIP MLPs can consistently achieve chemical accuracy (±1 kcal mol^-1) to the ground-truth surface with only a few hundred reference calculations. These strategies are shown to enable routine ab initio-quality classical and quantum dynamics, and obtain dynamical quantities such as product ratios and free energies from non-static methods. For ambimodal reactions, product distributions were found to be strongly dependent on the QM method and less so on the type of dynamics propagated.

Discovery of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro peptide inhibitors from modelling substrate and ligand binding

The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is central to viral maturation and is a promising drug target, but little is known about structural aspects of how it binds to its 11 natural cleavage sites. We used biophysical and crystallographic data and an array of biomolecular simulation techniques, including automated docking, molecular dynamics (MD) and interactive MD in virtual reality, QM/MM, and linear-scaling DFT, to investigate the molecular features underlying recognition of the natural Mpro substrates. We extensively analysed the subsite interactions of modelled 11-residue cleavage site peptides, crystallographic ligands, and docked COVID Moonshot-designed covalent inhibitors. Our modelling studies reveal remarkable consistency in the hydrogen bonding patterns of the natural Mpro substrates, particularly on the N-terminal side of the scissile bond. They highlight the critical role of interactions beyond the immediate active site in recognition and catalysis, in particular plasticity at the S2 site. Building on our initial Mpro-substrate models, we used predictive saturation variation scanning (PreSaVS) to design peptides with improved affinity. Non-denaturing mass spectrometry and other biophysical analyses confirm these new and effective 'peptibitors' inhibit Mpro competitively. Our combined results provide new insights and highlight opportunities for the development of Mpro inhibitors as anti-COVID-19 drugs.

A transferable active-learning strategy for reactive molecular force fields

Predictive molecular simulations require fast, accurate and reactive interatomic potentials. Machine learning offers a promising approach to construct such potentials by fitting energies and forces to high-level quantum-mechanical data, but doing so typically requires considerable human intervention and data volume. Here we show that, by leveraging hierarchical and active learning, accurate Gaussian Approximation Potential (GAP) models can be developed for diverse chemical systems in an autonomous manner, requiring only hundreds to a few thousand energy and gradient evaluations on a reference potential-energy surface. The approach uses separate intra- and inter-molecular fits and employs a prospective error metric to assess the accuracy of the potentials. We demonstrate applications to a range of molecular systems with relevance to computational organic chemistry: ranging from bulk solvents, a solvated metal ion and a metallocage onwards to chemical reactivity, including a bifurcating Diels-Alder reaction in the gas phase and non-equilibrium dynamics (a model SN2 reaction) in explicit solvent. The method provides a route to routinely generating machine-learned force fields for reactive molecular systems.