Partitioning the loss in vancomycin binding affinity for D-Ala-D-Lac into lost H-bond and repulsive lone pair contributions

The binding affinity of 4, which incorporates a methylene (CH2) in place of the key linking amide of Ac2-l-Lys-d-Ala-d-Ala, for vancomycin was compared with that of Ac2-l-Lys-d-Ala-d-Ala (3) and Ac2-l-Lys-d-Ala-d-Lac (5). The vancomycin affinity for 4 was approximately 10-fold less than that of 3, but 100-fold greater than that of 5. This suggests that the reduced binding affinity of 5 (4.1 kcal/mol) may be attributed to both the loss of a key H-bond (1.5 kcal/mol) and a destabilizing lone pair/lone pair electrostatic interaction introduced with the ester oxygen of 5 (2.6 kcal/mol) with the latter, not the H-bond, being responsible for the largest share of the 1000-fold reduction.     

Influence of H-bond strength on chelate cooperativity

Intermolecular complexes formed between metalloporphyrins and pyridine ligands equipped with multiple H-bond donors and acceptors have been used to measure the free energy contributions due to intramolecular ether-phenol H-bonding in the 24 different supramolecular architectures using chemical double mutant cycles in toluene. The ether-phenol interactions are relatively weak, and there are significant populations of partially bound states where between zero and four intramolecular H-bonds are made in addition to the porphyrin-ligand coordination interaction. The complexes were analyzed as ensembles of partially bound states to determine the effective molarities for the intramolecular interactions by comparison with the corresponding intermolecular ether-phenol H-bonds. The properties of the ether-phenol interactions were compared with phosphonate diester-phenol interactions in a closely related ligand system, which has more powerful H-bond acceptor oxygens positioned at the same location on the ligand framework. This provides a comparison of the properties of weak and strong H-bonds embedded in the same 24 supramolecular architectures. When the product of the intermolecular association constant and the effective molarity KEM > 1, there is a linear increase in the free energy contribution due to H-bonding with log EM, because the intramolecular interactions contribute fully to the stability of the complex. When KEM < 1, the H-bonded state is not significantly populated, and there is no impact on the overall stability of the complex. Intermolecular phosphonate diester-phenol H-bonds are 2 orders of magnitude stronger than ether-phenol H-bonds in toluene, so for the phosphonate diester ligand system, 23 of the 24 supramolecular architectures make intramolecular H-bonds. However, only 8 of these architectures lead to detectable H-bonding in the ether ligand system. The other 15 complexes have a suitable geometry for formation of H-bonds, but the ether-phenol interaction is not strong enough to overcome the reorganization costs associated with making intramolecular contacts, i.e., KEM < 1 for the ether ligands, and KEM > 1 for the phosphonate diester ligands. The values of EM measured for two different types of H-bond acceptor are linearly correlated, which suggests that EM is a property of the supramolecular acrchitecture. However, the absolute value of EM for an intramolecular phosphonate diester H-bond is about 4 times lower than the corresponding value for an intramolecular ether-phenol interaction embedded in the same supramolecular framework, which suggests that there may be some interplay of K and EM.     

Ab initio and DFT studies on hydrolyses of phosphorus halides

Hydrolyses of phosphorus halides, (RO)(2)POX where R = H or Me and X = F or Cl, in the gas phase and in the reaction field have been investigated theoretically with ab initio and the density functional theory (DFT). The free energy of activation in the reaction field was also estimated using the Onsager method with a correction of entropy change and basis set superposition error (BSSE). The reaction of (MeO)(2)POF proceeds through a path with bifunctional catalysis regardless of the medium, but the reaction of (MeO)(2)POCl proceeds through bifunctional and general base catalysis in the gas phase and in water, respectively. The estimated free energy barrier of 23 kcal/mol for the hydrolysis of (MeO)(2)POF is in good agreement with the experimental values of 24 kcal/mol, and relative barrier of 3 kcal/mol to the (MeO)(2)POCl is also in good agreement with the experimental values of 5 kcal/mol of diisopropyl phosphorus halides ((Pr(i)O)(2)POX, X = F and Cl).     

Analysis of multiple H-bond interactions in self-assembly between polyurethane with pendent carboxyl and poly(4-vinylpyridine)

As an extension study, FTIR and molecular simulation methods were combined in the present paper to analyze the H-bond interactions resulting from multiple donors and acceptors that have led to self-assembly based on segmented polyurethane with carboxyl (PUc) and poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) in our previous work. Of them, FTIR was used to analyze the H-bonding types and interactions as well as their changes before and after self-assembly; molecular mechanics (MM/COMPASS) was used to study the effect of possible conformations on the H-bonds involved and analyze the most probable H-bond patterns; quantum mechanics (QM/B3LYP) was used to help confirm the experimental FTIR band assignments and calculate the H-bond energy. It was found that two types of H-bonds exist, namely, COOH...P4VP (type I) and (OCO)NH...P4VP (type II), based on OH and NH as the strong donors in the interaction between PUc and P4VP. Strong evidence has been obtained for a type II H-bond, which is the specialty in PUc/P4VP assembly. The type I and type II H-bonding energies are -11.293 and -7.150 kcal/mol, respectively. The forming probability of the type I H-bond accounts for 95.87%, while that of the type II H-bond is 4.13%, showing the primary driving force for the assembly based on PUc and P4VP is still the H-bond between COOH and P4VP, yet the H-bonds based on NH and pyridyl in P4VP cannot be ignored.     

Role of structural water molecule in HIV protease-inhibitor complexes: a QM/MM study

Structural water molecule 301 found at the interface of HIV protease-inhibitor complexes function as a hydrogen bond (H-bond) donor to carbonyl groups of the inhibitor as well as H-bond acceptor to amide/amine groups of the flap region of the protease. In this study, six systems of HIV protease-inhibitor complexes were analyzed, which have the presence of this "conserved" structural water molecule using a two-layer QM/MM ONIOM method. The combination of QM/MM and QM method enabled the calculation of strain energies of the bound ligands as well as the determination of their binding energies in the ligand-water and ligand-water-protease complexes. Although the ligand experiences considerable strain in the protein bound structure, the H-bond interactions through the structural water overcomes this strain effect to give a net stability in the range of 16-24 kcal/mol. For instance, in 1HIV system, the strain energy of the ligand was 12.2 kcal/mol, whereas the binding energy associated with the structural water molecule was 20.8 kcal/mol. In most of the cases, the calculated binding energy of structural water molecule showed the same trend as that of the experimental binding free energy values. Further, the classical MD simulations carried out on 1HVL system with and without structural water 301 showed that this conserved water molecule enhances the H-bond dynamics occurring at the Asp-bound active site region of the protease-inhibitor system, and therefore it will have a direct influence on the mechanism of drug action.     

Raman H-bond pair volume for water

The dispersion of the H-bond pair volume Delta V over the decoupled OD and coupled OH-stretching contours from HDO in H(2)O was determined from Raman intensities at pressures to 9700 bar at 301 K. The dispersion of Delta V was determined from -RT[partial differential ln(I(i)/I(REF))/ partial differential P](T) versus omega (in cm(-1)), where i refers to omega's over the stretching contours and I(REF) refers to the reference intensity at the isosbestic frequency. The maximum H-bond pair volume (defined for breakage) is 1.4+/-0.1 cm(3)/mol H-bond, which corresponds to the volume difference between a large dispersion maximum at 2,675 cm(-1) (near the OD stretch omega of HDO in dense supercritical water) and a large, broad minimum centered near 2,375 cm(-1) (just below the OD stretch omega of HDO in lda ice). The average DeltaV is 0.71+/-0.10 cm(3)/mol H-bond. Other minima near 2,625 cm(-1) (OD) and 3550 cm(-1) (OH) refers to bent H-bonds whose angles are approximately 150 deg. Isothermal pressurization of water lowers the molal volume by decreasing the concentration of long, weak H-bonds, and increasing the concentrations of bent H-bonds and short, strong, linear H-bonds. Such bending, shortening, and strengthening produces freezing to ice VI near 10 kbar at 301 K. The isobaric temperature derivative of the maximum H-bond volume is (partial differential Delta V/partial differential T)(P)< or =(2-5) x 10(-3) cm(3)/deg mol H-bond. The OH enthalpy dispersion curve for saturated NaBF(4) in water, yields a large maximum at 3,530-3,540 cm(-1) indicating that BF(4) (-) interacts preferentially with the dangling or "free" OH groups of water thus producing weak, strongly bent H-bonds having angles similar to those of the 3,550 cm(-1) high-pressure H-bond bending feature.     

Intramolecular hydrogen bonding and cooperative interactions in carbohydrates via the molecular tailoring approach

In spite of many theoretical and experimental attempts for understanding intramolecular hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) in carbohydrates, a direct quantification of individual intramolecular H-bond energies and the cooperativity among the H-bonded networks has not been reported in the literature. The present work attempts, for the first time, a direct estimation of individual intramolecular O-H...O interaction energies in sugar molecules using the recently developed molecular tailoring approach (MTA). The estimated H-bond energies are in the range of 1.2-4.1 kcal mol(-1). It is seen that the OH...O equatorial-equatorial interaction energies lie between 1.8 and 2.5 kcal mol(-1), with axial-equatorial ones being stronger (2.0-3.5 kcal mol(-1)). The strongest bonds are nonvicinal axial-axial H-bonds (3.0-4.1 kcal mol(-1)). This trend in H-bond energies is in agreement with the earlier reports based on the water-water H-bond angle, solvent-accessible surface area (SASA), and (1)H NMR analysis. The contribution to the H-bond energy from the cooperativity is also estimated using MTA. This contribution is seen to be typically between 0.1 and 0.6 kcal mol(-1) when H-bonds are a part of a relatively weak equatorial-equatorial H-bond network and is much higher (0.5-1.1 kcal mol(-1)) when H-bonds participate in an axial-axial H-bond network.     

Nature of one-dimensional short hydrogen bonding: bond distances, bond energies, and solvent effects

On the basis of recently synthesized calix[4]hydroquinone (CHQ) nanotubes which were self-assembled with infinitely long one-dimensional (1-D) short hydrogen bonds (SHB), we have investigated the nature of 1-D SHB using first-principles calculations for all the systems including the solvent water. The H-bonds relay (i.e., contiguous H-bonds) effect in CHQs shortens the H...O bond distances significantly (by more than 0.2 A) and increases the bond dissociation energy to a large extent (by more than approximately 4 kcal/mol) due to the highly enhanced polarization effect along the H-bond relay chain. The H-bonds relay effect shows a large increase in the chemical shift associated with the SHB. The average binding energies for the infinite 1-D H-bond arrays of dioles and dions increase by approximately 4 and approximately 9 kcal/mol per H-bond, respectively. The solvent effect (due to nonbridging water molecules) has been studied by explicitly adding water molecules in the CHQ tube crystals. This effect is found to be small with slight weakening of the SHB strength; the H...O bond distance increases only by 0.02 A, and the average binding energy decreases by approximately 1 kcal/mol per H-bond. All these results based on the first-principles calculations are the first detailed analysis of energy gain by SHB and energy loss by solvent effect, based on a partitioning scheme of the interaction energy components. These reliable results elucidate not only the self-assembly phenomena based on the H-bond relay but also the solvent effect on the SHB strength.     

Molecular dynamics of hydrogen bonds in protein-D2O: the solvent isotope effect

We suggest that the H-bond in proteins not only mirrors the motion of hydrogen in its own atomistic setting but also finds its origin in the collective environment of the hydrogen bond in a global lattice of surrounding H2O molecules. This water lattice is being perturbed in its optimal entropic configuration by the motion of the H-bond. Furthermore, bonding interaction with the lattice drop the H-bond energy from some 5 kcal/mol for the pure protein in the absence of H2O, to some 1.6 kcal/mol in the presence of the H2O medium. This low value here is determined in a computer experiment involving MD calculations and is a value close to the generally accepted value for biological systems. In accordance with these computer experiments under ambient conditions, the H-bond energy is seriously depressed, hence confirming the subtle effect of the H2O medium directly interacting with the H-bond and permitting a strong fluxional behavior. Furthermore, water produces a very large change in the entropy of activation due to the hydrogen bond breakage, which affects the rate by as much as 2 orders of magnitude. We also observe that there is an entire ensemble of H-bond structures, rather than a single transition state, all of which contribute to this H-bond. Here the model is tested by changing to D2O as the surrounding medium resulting in a substantial solvent isotope effect. This demonstrates the important influence of the environment on the individual hydrogen bond.     

Conformational energies for 2-substituted butanes

The conformational free energies for some 2-substituted butanes where X = F, Cl, CN, and CCH were calculated using G3-B3, CBS-QB3, and CCSD(T)/6-311++G(2d,p) as well as other theoretical levels. The above methods gave consistent results with free energies relative to the trans conformers as follows: X = CCH, g+ = 0.77 +/- 0.05 kcal/mol. g- = 0.88 +/- 0.05 kcal/mol; X = CN, g+ = 0.85 +/- 0.05 kcal/mol, g- = 0.75 +/- 0.05 kcal/mol; X = Cl, g+ = 0.70 +/- 0.05 kcal/ml, g- = 0.80 +/- 0.05 kcal/mol; and X = F, g+ = 0.53 +/- 0.05 kcal/mol, g- = 0.83 +/- 0.05 kcal/mol. The conformational free energies also were estimated using the observed liquid phase IR spectra and intensities calculated using B3LYP/6-311++G** and MP2/6-311++G**. The rotational free energy profiles for all of the compounds were estimated at the G3-B3 level.     

Reaction pathways and free energy barriers for alkaline hydrolysis of insecticide 2-trimethylammonioethyl methylphosphonofluoridate and related organophosphorus compounds: electrostatic and steric effects

Reaction pathways and free energy barriers for alkaline hydrolysis of the highly neurotoxic insecticide 2-trimethylammonioethyl methylphosphonofluoridate and related organophosphorus compounds were studied by performing first-principles electronic structure calculations on representative methylphosphonofluoridates, (RO)CH3P(O)F, in which R = CH2CH2N+(CH3)3, CH3, CH2CH2C(CH3)3, CH2CH2CH(CH3)2, CH(CH3)CH2N+(CH3)3, and CH(CH3)CH2N(CH3)2. The dominant reaction pathway was found to be associated with a transition state in which the attacking nucleophile OH- and the leaving group F- are positioned on opposite sides of the plane formed by the three remaining atoms attached to the phosphorus in order to minimize the electrostatic repulsion between these two groups. The free energy barriers calculated for the rate-determining step of the dominant pathway are 12.5 kcal/mol when R = CH2CH2N+(CH3)3, 15.5 kcal/mol when R = CH3, 17.9 kcal/mol when R = CH2CH2C(CH3)3, 16.5 kcal/mol when R = CH2CH2CH(CH3)2, 13.4 kcal/mol when R = CH(CH3)CH2N+(CH3)3, and 18.7 kcal/mol when R = CH(CH(3))CH(2)N(CH(3))(2). The calculated free energy barriers are in good agreement with available experimentally derived activation free energies, i.e. 14.7 kcal/mol when R = CH(3), 13.4 kcal/mol when R = CH2CH2N+(CH3)3, and 13.9 kcal/mol when R = CH(CH3)CH2N+(CH3)3. A detailed analysis of the calculated energetic results and available experimental data suggests that the net charge of the molecule (M) being hydrolyzed is a prominent factor affecting the free energy barrier (DeltaG) for the alkaline hydrolysis of phosphodiesters, phosphonofluoridates, and related organophosphorus compounds. The electrostatic interactions between the attacking nucleophile OH- and the molecule M being hydrolyzed favor such an order of the free energy barrier: DeltaG(M(+)+OH-) < DeltaG(M0+OH-) < DeltaG(M(-)+OH-), where M+, M0, and M- represent the cationic, neutral, and anionic molecules, respectively. The change of the substituent R in (RO)CH(3)P(O)F from CH3 to CH2CH2N+(CH3)3 is associated with both the electrostatic and steric effects on the free energy barrier, but the electrostatic effect dominates the substituent shift of the free energy barrier. This helps to better understand why the alkaline hydrolysis of (RO)CH3P(O)F with R = CH2CH2N+(CH3)3 and CH(CH3)CH2N+(CH3)3 is significantly faster than that with R = CH3. The effect of electrostatic interaction also helps to understand why the rate constants for the alkaline hydrolysis of phosphodiesters, such as intramolecular second messenger adenosine 3',5'-phosphate (cAMP), are generally smaller than those for the alkaline hydrolysis of the phosphonofluoridates and related phosphotriesters.     

A free energy calculation study of the effect of H-->F substitution on binding affinity in ligand-antibody interactions

Changes in binding affinity to catalytic antibody 6D9 of chloramphenicol phosphonate derivatives (CPDs) containing H or F were investigated by performing free energy calculations based on molecular dynamics simulations. We calculated the binding free energy, enthalpy, and entropy changes (DeltaDeltaG, DeltaDeltaH, and -TDeltaDeltaS) attributable to H-->F substitution by comparing results for CPDs containing a trifluoroacetylamino group (CPD-F) or an acetylamino group (CPD-H). The calculated DeltaDeltaG, DeltaDeltaH, and -TDeltaDeltaS values were -2.9, -6.3, and 3.5 kcal mol(-1) and close to experimental values observed for a series of similar ligands, chloramphenicol phosphonates with F and H (-1.4, -3.5, and 2.1 kcal mol(-1)). Therefore, CPD-F binds more strongly to 6D9 than does CPD-H. To clarify the origin of the large difference in DeltaDeltaG, we apportioned the calculated values of DeltaDeltaG and DeltaG for the associated and dissociated states into contributions from various atomic interactions. We found that the H-->F substitution increased the binding affinity mainly by decreasing the hydration free energy and not by increasing favorable interactions with the antibody. The decreased hydration free energy of the ligand was mainly due to unfavorable coulombic interactions between the trifluoroacetylamino group and solvent waters, which increased the free energy of the dissociated state (by about 3.7 kcal mol(-1)). Also, the trifluoroacetylamino group slightly increased the free energy level of the associated state (about 0.8 kcal mol(-1)) because favorable van der Waals interactions compensated for unfavorable coulombic interactions with antibody atoms. In addition, the enthalpy and entropy changes, DeltaDeltaH and -TDeltaDeltaS (computationally -6.3 and 3.5 kcal mol(-1)), originated mainly from a decrease in hydration free energy in the dissociated state. The CPD-F and CPD-H ligands had substantially different structures in the dissociated and complexed states.     

A multilayered representation,quantum mechanical and molecular mechanics study of the CH3F + OH− reaction in water

The bimolecular nucleophilic substitution (S_N2) reaction of CH₃F + OH^? in aqueous solution was investigated using a combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanics approach. Reactant complex, transition state, and product complex along the reaction pathway were analyzed in water. The potentials of mean force were calculated using a multilayered representation with the DFT and CCSD(T) level of theory for the reactive region. The obtained free energy activation barrier for this reaction at the CCSD(T)/MM representation is 18.3 kcal/mol which agrees well with the experimental value at ～21.6 kcal/mol. Both the solvation effect and solute polarization effect play key roles on raising the activation barrier height in aqueous solution, with the former raising the barrier height by 3.1 kcal/mol, the latter 1.5 kcal/mol. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effect of small cations on the hydrogen bond between an N-aromatic heterocycle and amine

The influence of an Li⁺ ion on the structure and bonding of the H-bond interaction of an N-aromatic heterocycle and a singly bonded N-amine is studied by ab initio SCF calculations with imidazole (Imh) and NH₃ serving as models of the two families. Full optimization of structures have been carried out for DZ, DZP and TZP basis sets. The computed H-bond energy for Imh/ NH₃ of −6.4 kcal/mol is in close agreement with a recent experiment. An appreciable three-body interaction of −3.8 kcal/mol is found for the complex Imh/NH₃/Li⁺.     

Unique charge-separated intermolecular and eight-membered intramolecular H-bonds in bis-(thio)barbiturates

Reaction of symmetrical and unsymmetrical (thio)barbituric acids with aldehydes in the presence of triethylamine afforded a new form of bis-(thio)barbiturate containing charge-separated inter- and eight-membered intramolecular H-bonds. The reaction products were obtained as bis-(thio)barbiturates containing eight-membered intramolecular H-bond in the presence of l-(+)-tartaric acid (TA). The intramolecular H-bond strength (kcal/mol) and corresponding pKa value for 4ab′ were estimated to be 37 kcal/mol and ?1.3, respectively.     

Accurate pK(a) calculations for carboxylic acids using complete basis set and Gaussian-n models combined with CPCM continuum solvation methods

Complete Basis Set and Gaussian-n methods were combined with CPCM continuum solvation methods to calculate pK(a) values for six carboxylic acids. An experimental value of -264.61 kcal/mol for the free energy of solvation of H(+), DeltaG(s)(H(+)), was combined with a value for G(gas)(H(+)) of -6.28 kcal/mol to calculate pK(a) values with Cycle 1. The Complete Basis Set gas-phase methods used to calculate gas-phase free energies are very accurate, with mean unsigned errors of 0.3 kcal/mol and standard deviations of 0.4 kcal/mol. The CPCM solvation calculations used to calculate condensed-phase free energies are slightly less accurate than the gas-phase models, and the best method has a mean unsigned error and standard deviation of 0.4 and 0.5 kcal/mol, respectively. The use of Cycle 1 and the Complete Basis Set models combined with the CPCM solvation methods yielded pK(a) values accurate to less than half a pK(a) unit.     

Role of protein structure and the role of individual fingers in zinc finger protein–DNA recognition: a molecular dynamics simulation study and free energy calculations

Molecular dynamics and MM_GBSA energy calculations on various zinc finger proteins containing three and four fingers bound to their target DNA gave insights into the role of each finger in the DNA binding process as part of the protein structure. The wild type Zif 268 (PDB code: 1AAY) gave a ΔG value of ??76.1 (14) kcal/mol. Zinc fingers ZF1, ZF2 and ZF3 were mutated in one experiment and in another experiment one finger was cut and the rest of the protein was studied for binding. The ΔΔG values for the Zinc Finger protein with both ZF1 and ZF2 mutated was +?80 kcal/mol, while mutating only ZF1 the ΔΔG value was +?52 kcal/mol (relative to the wild type). Cutting ZF3 and studying the protein consisting only of ZF1 linked to ZF2 gave a ΔΔG value of +?68 kcal/mol. Upon cutting ZF1, the resulting ZF2 linked to ZF3 protein gave a ΔΔG value of +?41 kcal/mol. The above results shed light on the importance of each finger in the binding process, especially the role of ZF1 as the anchoring finger followed in importance by ZF2 and ZF3. The energy difference between the binding of the wild type protein Zif268 (1AAY) and that for individual finger binding to DNA according to the formula: ΔΔG_{linkers, otherstructuralfactors}?=?ΔG_zif268???(ΔG_F1+F2+F3) gave a value?=???44.5 kcal/mol. This stabilization can be attributed to the contribution of linkers and other structural factors in the intact protein in the DNA binding process. DNA binding energies of variant proteins of the wild type Zif268 which differ in their ZF1 amino acid sequence gave evidence of a good relationship between binding energy and recognition and specificity, this finding confirms the reported vital role of ZF1 in the ZF protein scanning and anchoring to the target DNA sequence. The role of hydrogen bonds in both specific and nonspecific amino acid-DNA contacts is discussed in relation to mutations. The binding energies of variant Zinc Finger proteins confirmed the role of ZF1 in the recognition, specificity and anchoring of the zinc finger protein to DNA.     

F+ and F⁻ affinities of simple N(x)F(y) and O(x)F(y) compounds

Atomization energies at 0 K and heats of formation at 0 and 298 K are predicted for the neutral and ionic N(x)F(y) and O(x)F(y) systems using coupled cluster theory with single and double excitations and including a perturbative triples correction (CCSD(T)) method with correlation consistent basis sets extrapolated to the complete basis set (CBS) limit. To achieve near chemical accuracy (±1 kcal/mol), three corrections to the electronic energy were added to the frozen core CCSD(T)/CBS binding energies: corrections for core-valence, scalar relativistic, and first order atomic spin-orbit effects. Vibrational zero point energies were computed at the CCSD(T) level of theory where possible. The calculated heats of formation are in good agreement with the available experimental values, except for FOOF because of the neglect of higher order correlation corrections. The F(+) affinity in the N(x)F(y) series increases from N(2) to N(2)F(4) by 63 kcal/mol, while that in the O(2)F(y) series decreases by 18 kcal/mol from O(2) to O(2)F(2). Neither N(2) nor N(2)F(4) is predicted to bind F(-), and N(2)F(2) is a very weak Lewis acid with an F(-) affinity of about 10 kcal/mol for either the cis or trans isomer. The low F(-) affinities of the nitrogen fluorides explain why, in spite of the fact that many stable nitrogen fluoride cations are known, no nitrogen fluoride anions have been isolated so far. For example, the F(-) affinity of NF is predicted to be only 12.5 kcal/mol which explains the numerous experimental failures to prepare NF(2)(-) salts from the well-known strong acid HNF(2). The F(-) affinity of O(2) is predicted to have a small positive value and increases for O(2)F(2) by 23 kcal/mol, indicating that the O(2)F(3)(-) anion might be marginally stable at subambient temperatures. The calculated adiabatic ionization potentials and electron affinities are in good agreement with experiment considering that many of the experimental values are for vertical processes.     

How the stabilization of INK4 tumor suppressor 3D structure evaluated by quantum chemical and molecular mechanics calculations corresponds well with experimental results: interplay of association enthalpy, entropy, and solvation effects

The folding free energy of the INK4c tumor suppressor core, consisting of 10 helices, was determined as the sum of gas-phase interaction enthalpy, gas-phase interaction entropy, and dehydration and hydration free energy. The interaction energy and the hydration free energy were determined using the nonempirical density functional theory (DFT) method, augmented by a dispersion-energy correction term, the semiempirical density-functional tight-binding method covering the dispersion energy, and the density functional theory/conductor-like screening model (DFT/COSMO) procedure, whereas the interaction entropy was calculated with the empirical Cornell et al. force field. Alternatively, all contributions were evaluated consistently using empirical methods. All the values of the interaction energy of helix pairs are stabilizing, and the dominant stabilizing terms stem from the London dispersion energy and, in the case of charged systems, the electrostatic energy. The stabilization energy of the core, determined as the difference of the energy of the core and 10 separate helices, amounts to approximately 450 kcal/mol. Systematically, the difference in the hydration free energy of a helix pair and its separate components is smaller in magnitude than the interaction energy, and it is negative for some pairs while positive for others. The average total free energy of a core formation amounts to -29.6 kcal/mol (yielded by scaled quantum-chemical methods) and +13.9 kcal/mol (resulting from empirical methods). These values are considerably smaller than their single components, which are dominated by the interaction energy. The computationally predicted interval encloses the experimental value of the folding free energy (-2.8 kcal/mol).     

Entropy of water in the hydration layer of major and minor grooves of DNA

Transport properties (translational and rotational) of water in the two grooves of the B-DNA duplex are known to be different from those in the bulk. Here, we use a recently developed theoretical scheme to compute the entropies of water molecules in both of the grooves of DNA and compare them with that in the bulk. The scheme requires as input both translational and rotational velocity autocorrelation function (C(V)(t) and C(omega)(t), respectively) data. These velocity autocorrelation functions were computed from an atomistic MD simulation of a B-DNA duplex (36 base pairs long) in explicit water (TIP3P). The average values of the entropy of water at 300 K in both of the grooves of DNA (the TS value in the major groove is 6.71 kcal/mol and that in the minor groove is 6.41 kcal/mol) are found to be significantly lower than that in bulk water (the TS value is 7.27 kcal/mol). Thus, the entropic contribution to the free energy change (TDeltaS) of transferring a minor groove water molecule to the bulk is 0.86 kcal/mol and of transferring a major groove water to the bulk is 0.56 kcal/mol at 300 K, which is to be compared with 1.44 kcal/mol for melting of ice at 273 K. We also calculate the energy of interaction of each water molecule with the rest of the atoms in the system and hence calculate the chemical potential (Helmholtz free energy per water molecule, A = E - TS) in the different domains. The identical free energy value of water molecules in the different domains proves the robustness of the scheme. We propose that the configurational entropy of water in the grooves can be used as a measure of the mobility (or microviscosity) of water molecules in a given domain.