A comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) study using semiempirical, density functional, ab initio methods and pharmacophore derivation using DISCOtech on sigma 1 ligands

The Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMFA) was developed to investigate a three-dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship (3D-QSAR) model of ligands for the sigma 1 receptor. The starting geometry of sigma-1 receptor ligands was obtained from the Tripos force field minimizations and conformations were decided from DISCOtech using the SYBYL 6.8. program. The structures of 48 molecules were fully optimized at the ab initio HF/3-21G* and semiempirical AM1 calculations using GAUSSIAN 98. The electrostatic charges were calculated using several methods such as semiempirical AM1, density functional B3LYP/3-21G*, and ab initio HF/3-21G*, MP2/3-21G* calculations within GAUSSIAN 98. Using the optimized geometries, the CoMFA results derived from the HF/3-21G method were better than those from AM1. The best CoMFA was obtained from HF/3-21G* optimized geometry and charges (R2 = 0.977). Using the optimized geometries, the CoMFA results derived from the HF/3-21G methods were better than those from AM1 calculations. The training set of 43 molecules gave higher R2 (0.989-0.977) from HF/3-21G* optimized geometries than R2 (0.966-0.911) values from AM1 optimized geometries. The test set of five molecules also suggested that HF/3-21G* optimized geometries produced good CoMFA models to predict bioactivity of sigma 1 receptor ligands but AM1 optimized geometries failed to predict reasonable bioactivity of sigma 1 receptor ligands using different calculations for atomic charges.     

Various atomic charge calculation schemes of CoMFA on HIF‐1 inhibitors of moracin analogs

Selection of appropriate partial charges in a molecule is crucial to derive good quantitative structure–activity relationship models. In this work, several partial atomic charges were assigned and tested in a comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) models. Many CoMFA models were generated for a series of hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF‐1) inhibitors using various partial atomic charges including charge equalization, Mülliken population analysis (MPA), natural population analysis, and electrostatic potential (ESP)‐derived charges. These atomic charges were investigated at various theoretical levels such as empirical, semiempirical, Hartree–Fock (HF), and density functional theory (DFT). Among them, Merz‐Singh‐Kollman (MK) ESP‐derived charges at the level of HF/6‐31G* gave the highest predictive q² with experimental pIC₅₀ values. With this charge scheme, a detailed analysis of CoMFA model was performed to understand the electrostatic interactions between ligand and receptor. More elaborate charge calculation schemes such as HF and DFT correlated more strongly with activity than empirical or semiempirical schemes. The choice of optimization methods was important. As geometries were fully optimized at the given levels of theory, the aligned structures were different. They differed considerably, especially for the flexible parts. This was likely the source of the substantial variation of q² values, even when the same steric factor was considered without electrostatic parameters. ESP‐derived charges were most appropriate to describe CoMFA electrostatic interactions among MPA, NBA, and ESP charges. Overall q² values vary considerably (0.8–0.5) depending on the charge schemes applied. The results demonstrate the need to consider more appropriate atomic charges rather than default CoMFA charges. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2012     

Semiempirical AM1 electrostatic potentials and AM1 electrostatic potential derived charges: A comparison with ab initio values

Electrostatic potentials calculated from AM1 wave functions have been compared with ab initio STO-3G values and qualitative agreement has been found. Atomic charges derived from AM1 electrostatic potentials for both experimental and AM1 optimized geometries are of comparable quality with STO-3G potential derived charges. These results suggest that the AM1 electrostatic potential may be useful both in its own right and also for deriving atomic charges for use in molecular dynamics studies.     

四苯硼阴离子电子结构的理论研究

分别应用半经验发子轨道理论的AM1方法和在HF／3－21G水平上的从头算分子轨道法,对四苯硼阴离子的电子结构进行了研究。采用解析梯度技术对四苯硼阴离子的平衡态几何构型进行了全优化,得到了分子轨道、电荷布居、静电势以及红外光谱和紫外光谱等参数,计算结果表明：四苯硼阴离子的静电势分布均匀,其前线轨道能级间隔为12．1398eV,利用组态相互作用法得到的紫外光谱跃迁吸收峰主要位于远紫外区,说明四苯硼离子比较稳定,从头算法得到的红外光谱吸收峰分布与实验结果一致,AM1法得到的红外吸收频率与实验值更接近。     

Stable conformations of CH3CH2OCH2CH2OH: A comparison of theoretical methods

This article presents the results of an extensive examination of the stable conformations of CH₃CH₂OCH₂CH₂OH at various levels of theory. In particular, 41 initial conformations are optimized using the MM2 force field in BIGSTRN-3; the MINDO/3, MNDO, and AM1 Hamiltonians in AMPAC 2.2; the PM3 Hamiltonian in MOPAC 7.0; and at the HF/STO-3G and HF/3-21G levels using Gaussian 92. The optimized HF/3-21G structures are reoptimized at the HF/6-31G(d) level, and the unique structures are optimized again at the MP2 = FULL/6-31G(d) level. In addition, single-point MP2/6-31G(d) calculations are performed using the HF/6-31G(d) geometries. The goal is to determine the relative accuracy of each method and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Atomic charges derived from a fast and accurate method for electrostatic potentials based on modified AM1 calculations

Atomic charges derived from a recently described approach to the very rapid computation of AM1 electrostatic potentials (ESP) accurately parallel, but are ca. 20% smaller than, the corresponding HF/6-31G* values. The dipole moments computed from the AM1 charges are virtually identical to those derived directly from the wave function and in rather better agreement with the experimental values than those computed using the HF/6-31G* charges. Unlike other approaches to the semiempirical calculation of ESP-derived charges, the present method also yields near HF/6-31G* quality potentials close to the molecular periphery. For medium-sized organic molecules (40-100 basis functions), the method is approximately two orders of magnitude faster than those involving prior deorthogonalization of AM1 wave function and explicit computation of the full ESP integral matrix. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Computational structural determination and energy landscape analysis of the hepatic carcinogen 2-(acetylamino)fluorene

 2-(Acetylamino)fluorene (AAF), a potent mutagen and a prototypical example of the mutagenic aromatic amines, forms covalent adducts to DNA after metabolic activation in the liver. A benchmark study of AAF is presented using a number of the most widely used molecular mechanics and semiempirical computational methods and models. The results are compared to higher-level quantum calculations and to experimentally obtained crystal structures. Hydrogen bonding between AAF molecules in the crystal phase complicates the direct comparison of gas-phase theoretical calculations with experiment, so Hartree–Fock (HF) and Becke–Perdew (BP) density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used as benchmarks for the semiempirical and molecular mechanics results. Systematic conformer searches and dihedral energy landscapes were carried out for AAF using the SYBYL and MMFF94 molecular mechanics force fields; the AM1, PM3 and MNDO semiempirical quantum mechanics methods; HF using the 3-21G*and 6-31G* basis sets; and DFT using the nonlocal BP functional and double numerical polarization basis sets. MMFF94, AM1, HF and DFT calculations all predict the same planar structures, whereas SYBYL, MNDO and PM3 all predict various nonplanar geometries. The AM1 energy landscape is in substantial agreement with HF and DFT predictions; MMFF94 is qualitatively similar to HF and DFT; and the MNDO, PM3 and SYBYL results are qualitatively different from the HF and DFT results and from each other. These results are attributed to deficiencies in MNDO, PM3 and SYBYL. The MNDO, PM3 and SYBYL models may be unreliable for compounds in which an amide group is immediately adjacent to an aromatic ring. Received: 26 May 2002 / Accepted: 12 December 2002 / Published online: 14 February 2003     

笼状氮化铝团簇的结构特征

建立了一种设计笼状氮化铝团簇的原则与方法,以此设计了（AlN)_n (n = 2 ～ 4)团簇的几何结构。采用量子化学AM1,HF/STO-3G和HF/LANL2DZ方法,对设计 的所有分子的同分异构体进行了优化,筛选出了低能量构型。完成了最低能量构型 结合能和能量二次差分值的计算,找到了（AlN)_n团簇的稳定性规律。用密度泛函 理论（DFT）的B3LYP/6-31G方法,对（AlN)_n (n = 8 ～ 15)等8种团簇进行了验 证性的计算,所得结果与HF/LANL2DZ方法一致。为下一步在实验上合成较大尺寸（ AlN)_n团簇提供了理论依据。     

Quantum Chemical Investigations on the Structures,Stabilities, Decompositions of Trinitrobenzenes,Their Chloro Derivatives

he molecular geometries, heats of formation, electronic structures of three trinitrobenzenes(1,2,3-TNB, 1,2,4-TNB, 1,3,5-TNB), their chloro derivatives were studied by using the quantum chemical MO AM1 method at the RHF level, ab initio method at the HF/3-21G level. The decompositions of the title compounds were investigated by using the AM1 method at the UHF level. The decomposition activation energies were obtained, the order of the relative stabilities of the title compounds is found. The substituent effects on the structures, properties, on the decompositions of the title compounds are discussed in the present paper.     

Comparative molecular field analysis and energy interaction studies of thrombin-inhibitor complexes

A Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMFA) and an interaction energy-based method were applied on a database holding the 3D structures of 29 thrombin-inhibitor complexes. Several parameters were optimized in both methods in order to obtain the best correlation between theoretical and experimentally determined binding (Ki) data. CoMFA, which only uses the information of the inhibitors, performed best (r = 0.99, q2 = 0.46, N = 29) when HF 6-31G charges were used in combination with a pharmacophore-based alignment. Inclusion of hydrophobic fields did not lead to improvements. The interaction energy-based approach uses the information of the whole thrombin-inhibitor complex. A statistically significant correlation (r = 0.74, N = 14) could only be obtained for a subset of the database containing the high resolution structures. Geometry optimization of the ligand only in combination with downscaled electrostatics performed best.     

Fast,efficient generation of high-quality atomic charges. AM1-BCC model: II. Parameterization and validation

We present the first global parameterization and validation of a novel charge model, called AM1-BCC, which quickly and efficiently generates high-quality atomic charges for computer simulations of organic molecules in polar media. The goal of the charge model is to produce atomic charges that emulate the HF/6-31G* electrostatic potential (ESP) of a molecule. Underlying electronic structure features, including formal charge and electron delocalization, are first captured by AM1 population charges; simple additive bond charge corrections (BCCs) are then applied to these AM1 atomic charges to produce the AM1-BCC charges. The parameterization of BCCs was carried out by fitting to the HF/6-31G* ESP of a training set of >2700 molecules. Most organic functional groups and their combinations were sampled, as well as an extensive variety of cyclic and fused bicyclic heteroaryl systems. The resulting BCC parameters allow the AM1-BCC charging scheme to handle virtually all types of organic compounds listed in The Merck Index and the NCI Database. Validation of the model was done through comparisons of hydrogen-bonded dimer energies and relative free energies of solvation using AM1-BCC charges in conjunction with the 1994 Cornell et al. forcefield for AMBER.(13) Homo- and hetero-dimer hydrogen-bond energies of a diverse set of organic molecules were reproduced to within 0.95 kcal/mol RMS deviation from the ab initio values, and for DNA dimers the energies were within 0.9 kcal/mol RMS deviation from ab initio values. The calculated relative free energies of solvation for a diverse set of monofunctional isosteres were reproduced to within 0.69 kcal/mol of experiment. In all these validation tests, AMBER with the AM1-BCC charge model maintained a correlation coefficient above 0.96. Thus, the parameters presented here for use with the AM1-BCC method present a fast, accurate, and robust alternative to HF/6-31G* ESP-fit charges for general use with the AMBER force field in computer simulations involving organic small molecules.     

Vibrational spectra and ab initio analysis of tert-butyl, trimethylsilyl, trimethylgermyl, and trimethylstannyl derivatives of 3,3-dimethylcyclopropene VIII. 3,3-Dimethyl-1,2-bis-(trimethylstannyl)cyclopropene

The quantum mechanical force fields of 3,3-dimethyl-1,2-bis-(tert-butyl)cyclopropene (I), 3,3-dimethyl-1,2-bis-(trimethylsilyl)cyclopropene (II), 3,3-dimethyl-1,2-bis-(trimethylgermyl)cyclopropene (III), and 3,3-dimethyl-1,2-bis-(trimethylstannyl)cyclopropene (IV) were calculated at the HF/3-21G*//HF/3-21G* level. The scale factors which were optimized previously for the HF/3-21G*//HF/3-21G* quantum mechanical force field of 3,3-dimethyl-1-(trimethylsilyl)cyclopropene were used for correction of the force fields of these molecules. Good agreement between the frequencies calculated from these scaled force fields and the well-analyzed and assigned experimental frequencies of II and III suggests the transferability of these scale factors and the possibility of the spectroscopically accurate prediction of the vibrational spectrum of IV. Some regularities in the changes of the vibrational frequencies were found for this molecular series.     

A new force field (ECEPP-05) for peptides, proteins, and organic molecules

Parametrization and testing of a new all-atom force field for organic molecules and peptides with fixed bond lengths and bond angles are described. The van der Waals parameters for both the organic molecules and the peptides were taken from J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 7143 and J. Phys. Chem. B 2004, 108, 12181. First, the values of the 1-4 nonbonded and electrostatic scale factors appropriate to the new force field were determined by computing the conformational energies of six model molecules, namely, ethanol, ethylamine, propanol, propylamine, 1,2-ethanediol, and 1,3-propanediol with different values of these factors. The partial atomic charges of these molecules were obtained by fitting to the electrostatic potentials calculated with the HF/6-31G quantum-mechanical method. Two different charge models (single- and multiple-conformation-derived) were also considered. We demonstrated that the charge model has a stronger effect on the conformational energies than the 1-4 scaling. The choice of a charge model affected the conformational energies of even the smallest molecules considered, whereas the effect of the 1-4 electrostatic or nonbonded scaling was apparent only for 1,3-propanediol. The best agreement with high-level ab initio data was obtained with the multiple-conformation-derived charges and with no scaling of the 1-4 nonbonded or electrostatic interactions (scale factors of 1.0). Next, the torsional parameters of a large number of neutral and charged organic molecules, assumed to be models of the side chains of the 20 naturally occurring amino acids, were computed by fitting to rotational energy profiles obtained from ab initio MP2/6-31G calculations. The quality of the fits was high with average errors for torsional profiles of less than 0.2 kcal/mol. To derive the torsional parameters for the peptide backbone, the partial atomic charges of the 20 neutral and charged amino acids were obtained by fitting to the electrostatic potentials of terminally blocked amino acids using the HF/6-31G quantum-mechanical method. Then, the phi-psi energy maps of Ac-Ala-NMe and Ac-Gly-NMe were computed using MP2/6-31G//HF/6-31G quantum-mechanical methods. The phi-psi energy map of Ac-Ala-NMe was used for refinement of the nonbonded parameters for the backbone nitrogen and hydrogen bonded to it. Subsequently, the main-chain torsional parameters were obtained by fitting the molecular mechanics energies to the phi-psi energy maps of Ac-Ala-NMe and Ac-Gly-NMe. The transferability of the entire force field was demonstrated by reproducing the main energy minima of terminally blocked Ala3 from the literature. The performance of the force field was also evaluated by simulating crystal structures of small peptides. By comparison of simulated and experimental data, examination of the torsional-angle and atom-positional root-mean-square deviations of the energy-minimized crystal structures from the corresponding X-ray model structures demonstrated high accuracy of the force field.     

On the use of AM1 and MNDO wave functions to compute accurate electrostatic charges

A new strategy to evaluate accurate electrostatic charges from semiempirical wave functions is reported. The rigorous quantum mechanical molecular electrostatic potentials computed from both MNDO and AM1 wave functions are fitted to the point-charge molecular electrostatic potential to obtain the electrostatic charges. The reliability of this strategy is tested by comparing the semiempirical electrostatic charges for 21 molecules with the semiempirical Mulliken charges and with the ab initio STO-3G and 6-31G* electrostatic charges. The ability of the dipoles derived from the semiempirical electrostatic and Mulliken charges as well as from the SCF charge distributions to reproduce the ab initio 6-31G* electrostatic dipoles and the gas phase experimental values is determined. The statistical analysis clearly point out the goodness of the semiempirical electrostatic charges, specially when the MNDO method is used. The excellent relationships found between the MNDO and 6-31G* electrostatic charges permit to define a scaling factor which allows to accurately reproduce the 6-31G* electrostatic charge distribution as well as the experimental dipoles from the semiempirical electrostatic charges.     

A theoretical study on the intermolecular interaction of energetic system-Nitromethane dimer

Three optimized geometries of nitromethane dimer have been obtained at the HF/6-31G level.Dimer binding energies have been corrected for the basis set superposition error (BSSE) and the zero point energy.Computed results indicate that the cyclic structure of (CH3NO2)2 is the most stable of three optimized geometries,whose corrected binding energyis 17.29 kJ mol-1 at the MP4SDTQ/6-31G//HF/6-31G level.In the optimized structures of nitromethane dimer,the inter-molecular hydrogen bond has not been found; and the charge-transfer interaction between CH3NO2 subsystems is weak; and the correlation interaction energy makes a little contribution to the intermolecular interaction energy of the dimer.     

N-苄叉基-2-氨基噻唑及其类似物的构象和分子内的扭曲驱动力

确定了N-苄叉基-2-氨基噻唑(2a)和N-对硝基苄叉基-2-氨基噻唑(2b)的晶体结构.结合已报道的N-对硝基苄叉基-2-氨基嘧啶(1a),N-对硝基苄叉基-2-氨基吡啶(1b)和N-苄叉基-3-氨基吡啶(2c)的晶体结构,利用AM1,RHF,DFT方法和6-311G,6-311G^**基组,优化每个分子的22个旋转构象(θ=0°～90°).由DFT法所得到的最优构象的扭角θ(1a,22°;1b,0°;1c,42°;2a、2b:0°)与实验值(1a,26°;1b,20°;1c,46°;2a,8.8°;2b,3.8°)最接近.尽管分子最优构象扭角的差异很大,但总电子能最稳定的构象都在θ=±42°附近.在任一分子、任何电子态中,离域的π体系总是失稳定的,全平面构象不是π体系最稳定的构象.无论是离域的还是定域的π体系,它们均倾向于扭曲的几何构象.π电子的离域是分子扭曲的驱动力之一.与经典观点相反,非键原子间的核排斥作用是分子扭曲的阻力,而不是动力.     

CoMFA-based comparison of two models of binding site on adenosine A1 receptor

A set of 32 N6-substituted adenosines and 22 8-substituted xanthines with affinity for adenosine A1 receptors was subjected to three-dimensional quantitative structure-affinity relationship analysis using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA). The aim was to compare two modes of binding to the receptor – `N6-C8' and `N6-N7'. Good models with high predictive power and stability were obtained. A comparison of these models gives the following results: (a) Inclusion of both steric and electrostatic fields in CoMFA generates better predictive models compared to models based on steric or electrostatic fields alone. (b) The `N6-N7' CoMFA models are slightly better than the `N6-C8' ones. (c) Steric restriction exists around the N6-H in the `N6-N7' steric field map, which is absent in the `N6-C8' steric field map. This report demonstrates that the `N6-N7' mode of binding is a further development of the `N6-C8' model with a slightly better predictive ability and more accurate steric and electrostatic overlaps between agonists and antagonists.