Parameterization of OPLS-AA force field for the conformational analysis of macrocyclic polyketides

The parameters for the OPLS-AA potential energy function have been extended to include some functional groups that are present in macrocyclic polyketides. Existing OPLS-AA torsional parameters for alkanes, alcohols, ethers, hemiacetals, esters, and ketoamides were improved based on MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ and MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ calculations. Nonbonded parameters for the sp(3) carbon and oxygen atoms were refined using Monte Carlo simulations of bulk liquids. The resulting force field predicts conformer energies and torsional barriers of alkanes, alcohols, ethers, and hemiacetals with an overall RMS deviation of 0.40 kcal/mol as compared to reference data. Densities of 19 bulk liquids are predicted with an average error of 1.1%, and heats of vaporization are reproduced within 2.4% of experimental values. The force field was used to perform conformational analysis of smaller analogs of the macrocyclic polyketide drug FK506. Structures that adopted low-energy conformations similar to that of bound FK506 were identified. The results show that a linker of four ketide units constitutes the shortest effector domain that allows binding of the ketide drugs to FKBP proteins. It is proposed that the exact chemical makeup of the effector domain has little influence on the conformational preference of tetraketides.     

Accurate determination of pyridine-poly(amidoamine) dendrimer absolute binding constants with the OPLS-AA force field and direct integration of radial distribution functions

OPLS-AA force field and direct integration of intermolecular radial distribution functions (RDF) were employed to calculate absolute binding constants of pyridine molecules to amino group (NH2) and amide group hydrogen atoms in and first generation poly(amidoamine) dendrimers in chloroform. The average errors in the absolute and relative association constants, as predicted with the calculations, are 14.1% and 10.8%, respectively, which translate into ca. 0.08 and 0.06 kcal/mol errors in the absolute and relative binding free energies. We believe that this level of accuracy proves the applicability of the OPLS-AA, force field, in combination with the direct RDF integration, to reproducing and predicting absolute intermolecular association constants of low magnitudes (ca. 0.2-2.0 range).     

Prediction of hydration free energies for the SAMPL4 diverse set of compounds using molecular dynamics simulations with the OPLS-AA force field

All-atom molecular dynamics computer simulations were used to blindly predict the hydration free energies of a range of small molecules as part of the SAMPL4 challenge. Compounds were parametrized on the basis of the OPLS-AA force field using three different protocols for deriving partial charges: (1) using existing OPLS-AA atom types and charges with minor adjustments of partial charges on equivalent connecting atoms and derivation of new parameters for a number of distinct chemical groups (N-alkyl imidazole, nitrate) that were not present in the published force field; (2) calculation of quantum mechanical charges via geometry optimization, followed by electrostatic potential (ESP) fitting, using Jaguar at the LMP2/cc-pVTZ(-F) level; and (3) via geometry optimization and CHelpG charges (Gaussian09 at the HF/6-31G* level), followed by two-stage RESP fitting. The absolute hydration free energy was computed by an established protocol including alchemical free energy perturbation with thermodynamic integration. The use of standard OPLS-AA charges (protocol 1) with a number of newly parametrized charges and the use of histidine derived parameters for imidazole yielded an overall root mean square deviation of the prediction from the experimental data of 1.75 kcal/mol. The precision of our results appears to be mainly limited by relatively poor reproducibility of the Lennard-Jones contribution towards the solvation free energy, for which we observed large variability that could be traced to a strong dependence on the initial system conditions.     

Prediction of hydration free energies for aliphatic and aromatic chloro derivatives using molecular dynamics simulations with the OPLS-AA force field

All-atom molecular dynamics computer simulations were used to blindly predict the hydration free energies of a range of chloro-organic compounds as part of the SAMPL3 challenge. All compounds were parameterized within the framework of the OPLS-AA force field, using an established protocol to compute the absolute hydration free energy via a windowed free energy perturbation approach and thermodynamic integration. Three different approaches to deriving partial charge parameters were pursued: (1) using existing OPLS-AA atom types and charges with minor adjustments of partial charges on equivalent connecting atoms; (2) calculation of quantum mechanical charges via geometry optimization, followed by electrostatic potential (ESP) fitting, using Jaguar at the LMP2/cc-pVTZ(-F) level; and (3) via geometry optimization and CHelpG charges (Gaussian03 at the HF/6-31G* level), followed by two-stage RESP fitting. Protocol 3 generated the most accurate predictions with a root mean square (RMS) error of 1.2 kcal mol(-1) for the entire data set. It was found that the deficiency of the standard OPLS-AA parameters, protocol 1 (RMS error 2.4 kcal mol(-1) overall), was mostly due to compounds with more than three chlorine substituents on an aromatic ring. For this latter subset, the RMS errors were 1.4 kcal mol(-1) (protocol 3) and 4.3 kcal mol(-1) (protocol 1), respectively. We propose new OPLS-AA atom types for aromatic carbon and chlorine atoms in rings with ≥4 Cl-substituents that perform better than the best QM-based approach, resulting in an RMS error of 1.2 kcal mol(-1) for these difficult compounds.     

A viscosity equation for polyatomic fluids under normal and high pressures

In this work, we relate the self-diffusion coefficient to the residual entropy of the system according to the free volume theory and scaling principle. The viscosity equation for a freely jointed Lennard-Jones chain fluid is then obtained from the expression of self-diffusion coefficient by applying the Stokes–Einstein equation. The real polyatomic compounds are modeled as chains of tangent Lennard-Jones segments. The segment size and energy parameter as well as chain length (expressed by the number of segments) are obtained from the experimental viscosity data. The proposed viscosity equation reproduces the experimental viscosity data with an average absolute deviation of 5.12% for 18 polyatomic compounds (1600 data points) over wide ranges of temperature and pressure. For engineering applications, the generalized model parameters for normal alkanes with the number of carbon atoms n > 3 are proposed. The segment energy parameter is suggested to be evaluated from the critical temperature, and the segment size parameter and chain length are correlated with the number of carbon atoms in an alkane molecule.     

Parameterization of Ca+2-protein interactions for molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations of Ca+2 ions near protein were performed with three force fields: GROMOS96, OPLS-AA, and CHARMM22. The simulations reveal major, force-field dependent, inconsistencies in the interaction between the Ca+2 ions with the protein. The variations are attributed to the nonbonded parameterizations of the Ca+2-carboxylates interactions. The simulations results were compared to experimental data, using the Ca+2-HCOO- equilibrium as a model. The OPLS-AA force field grossly overestimates the binding affinity of the Ca+2 ions to the carboxylate whereas the GROMOS96 and CHARMM22 force fields underestimate the stability of the complex. Optimization of the Lennard-Jones parameters for the Ca+2-carboxylate interactions were carried out, yielding new parameters which reproduce experimental data.     

Partition coefficients of organic molecules in squalane and water/ethanol mixtures by molecular dynamics simulations

Accurate partition coefficient data of migrants between a polymer and a solvent are of paramount importance for estimating the migration of the migrant over time, including the concentration of the migrant at infinite time in the two solvents. In this article it is shown how this partition coefficient can be estimated for both a small hydrophilic and a hydrophobic organic molecules between squalane (used here to mimic low density poly ethylene) and water/ethanol solutes using thermodynamic integration to calculate the free energy of solvation. Molecular dynamics simulations are performed, using the GROMACS software, by slowly decoupling of firstly the electrostatic and then the Lennard-Jones interactions between molecules in the simulation box. These calculations depend very much on the choice of force field. Two force fields have been tested in this work, the TraPPE-UA (united-atom) and the OPLS-AA (all-atom). The computational cheaper TraPPE-UA force field showed to be more accurate over the whole range of systems compared to the OPLS-AA force field. Moreover, some of the calculations were done with five different water models to investigate the influence of the specific water model on the calculations. It was found that the combination of the TraPPE-UA force field and the TIP4p water model gave the best results. Based on the methodology proposed in this article, it is possible to obtain good partition coefficients only knowing the chemical structure of the molecules in the system.     

Theoretical investigation of hyperthermal reactions at the gas-liquid interface: O (3P) and squalane

Hyperthermal collisions (5 eV) of ground-state atomic oxygen [O ((3)P)] with a liquid-saturated hydrocarbon, squalane (C(30)H(62)), have been studied using QM/MM hybrid "on-the-fly" direct dynamics. The surface structure of the liquid squalane is obtained from a classical molecular dynamics simulation using the OPLS-AA force field. The MSINDO semiempirical Hamiltonian is combined with OPLS-AA for the QM/MM calculations. In order to achieve a more consistent and efficient simulation of the collisions, we implemented a dynamic partitioning of the QM and MM atoms in which atoms are assigned to QM or MM regions based on their proximity to "seed" (open-shell) atoms that determine where bond making/breaking can occur. In addition, the number of seed atoms is allowed to increase or decrease as time evolves so that multiple reactive events can be described. The results show that H abstraction is the most important process for all incident angles, with H elimination, double H abstraction, and C-C bond cleavage also being important. A number of properties of these reactive channels, as well as inelastic nonreactive scattering, are investigated, including angular and translational energy distributions, the effect of incident collision angle, variation with depth of the reactive event within the liquid, with the reaction site on the hydrocarbon, and the effect of dynamics before and after reaction (direct reaction versus trapping reaction-desorption).     

Lennard-Jones parameters for the combined QM/MM method using the B3LYP/6-31G*/AMBER potential

A combined DFT quantum mechanical and AMBER molecular mechanical potential (QM/MM) is presented for use in molecular modeling and molecular simulations of large biological systems. In our approach we evaluate Lennard-Jones parameters describing the interaction between the quantum mechanical (QM) part of a system, which is described at the B3LYP/6-31+G* level of theory, and the molecular mechanical (MM) part of the system, described by the AMBER force field. The Lennard-Jones parameters for this potential are obtained by calculating hydrogen bond energies and hydrogen bond geometries for a large set of bimolecular systems, in which one hydrogen bond monomer is described quantum mechanically and the other is treated molecular mechanically. We have investigated more than 100 different bimolecular systems, finding very good agreement between hydrogen bond energies and geometries obtained from the combined QM/MM calculations and results obtained at the QM level of theory, especially with respect to geometry. Therefore, based on the Lennard-Jones parameters obtained in our study, we anticipate that the B3LYP/6-31+G*/AMBER potential will be a precise tool to explore intermolecular interactions inside a protein environment.     

The topology of the Ehrenfest force density revisited. A different perspective based on Slater‐type orbitals

The topology of the Ehrenfest force density was studied with Slater‐type orbitals (STO). At larger distances from the nuclei, STOs generate similar artefacts as noticed before with Gaussian‐type orbitals. The topology of the Ehrenfest force density was found to be mainly homeomorphic with the topology of the electron density. For the first time, reliable integrations of several properties over force density atomic basins were performed successfully. Integration of the electron density of a number of hydrides, fluorides, and chlorides of first row elements over force density basins indicate substantial differences between the partial charges of the atoms as compared with those obtained from electron density basins. Calculations on saturated hydrocarbons confirm that the electronegativity of carbon atoms increases with increasing geometrical strain. Atomic interaction lines are observed to exist in the Ehrenfest force density between the hydrogen atoms of several so‐called “congested” molecules, and also in some inclusion complexes of alkanes with helium. However, interaction lines are lacking in several other controversial cases. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An improved OPLS-AA force field for carbohydrates

This work describes an improved version of the original OPLS-all atom (OPLS-AA) force field for carbohydrates (Damm et al., J Comp Chem 1997, 18, 1955). The improvement is achieved by applying additional scaling factors for the electrostatic interactions between 1,5- and 1,6-interactions. This new model is tested first for improving the conformational energetics of 1,2-ethanediol, the smallest polyol. With a 1,5-scaling factor of 1.25 the force field calculated relative energies are in excellent agreement with the ab initio-derived data. Applying the new 1,5-scaling makes it also necessary to use a 1,6-scaling factor for the interactions between the C4 and C6 atoms in hexopyranoses. After torsional parameter fitting, this improves the conformational energetics in comparison to the OPLS-AA force field. The set of hexopyranoses included in the torsional parameter derivation consists of the two anomers of D-glucose, D-mannose, and D-galactose, as well as of the methyl-pyranosides of D-glucose, D-mannose. Rotational profiles for the rotation of the exocyclic group and of different hydroxyl groups are also compared for the two force fields and at the ab initio level of theory. The new force field reduces the overly high barriers calculated using the OPLS-AA force field. This leads to better sampling, which was shown to produce more realistic conformational behavior for hexopyranoses in liquid simulation. From 10-ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of alpha-D-glucose and alpha-D-galactose the ratios for the three different conformations of the hydroxymethylene group and the average (3)J(H,H) coupling constants are derived and compared to experimental values. The results obtained for OPLS-AA-SEI force field are in good agreement with experiment whereas the properties derived for the OPLS-AA force field suffer from sampling problems. The undertaken investigations show that the newly derived OPLS-AA-SEI force field will allow simulating larger carbohydrates or polysaccharides with improved sampling of the hydroxyl groups.     

Conformation of alkanes in the gas phase and pure liquids

Monte Carlo (MC) statistical mechanics simulations have been carried out for the homologous alkane series of n-butane through n-dodecane in the gas phase and for the pure liquids at 298 K and 1 atm using the OPLS-AA force field. The study addresses potential cumulative deviations of computed properties and potential conformational differences between the gas phase and pure liquids, for example, from self-solvation in the gas phase. The average errors in comparison with experimental data for the computed densities and heats of vaporization are modest at 0.7% and 6.9%, respectively. Also, the invariant gas and liquid-phase results for average end-to-end distances and percentages of trans conformations for each nonterminal C-C bond assert that the conformer populations are not altered upon transfer from the gas phase to the pure liquid for the n-alkanes in this size range. Average end-to-end distances were also computed from the results of conformational searches and corroborated the MC findings. Quantitatively, the OPLS-AA result for the trans population of the C3-C4 bond in n-undecane is in close agreement with the findings from (13)C NMR experiments. Finally, previous work on determining the shortest n-alkane that does not have an all-trans global energy minimum has been extended. The smallest n-alkane with a hairpin geometry that is lower in energy than the all-trans conformer occurs for C(22)H(46) with OPLS-AA, though with a correction for GG sequences, the true turning point is likely in the C(16)-C(18) range.     

Detailed considerations for a balanced and broadly applicable force field: a study of substituted benzenes modeled with OPLS-AA

Modern classical force fields have been traditionally parameterized by attempting to maximize agreement to any number of experimental and/or quantum mechanical target properties. As these force fields are pushed towards obtaining quantitative estimates of often subtle energetic differences, stringent and consistent parameterization criteria, particularly in regard to charge distributions, are required to ensure that systematic errors cancel, that parameters are transferable between molecules, and that performance does not significantly deteriorate when using more approximate methods, such as with continuum solvent models. Relative free energies of hydration are presented here for 40 mono- and disubstituted benzenes modeled with the OPLS-AA force field; heats of vaporization and pure liquid densities at standard conditions are presented when experimental data is available. Overall agreement between OPLS-AA and experiment is remarkable (average error = 0.5 kcal/mol for DeltaDeltaG(hydration), 1.0 kcal/mol for DeltaH(vap) (0), 0.02 g/mL for densities), yet several functional groups are identified as having consistent and correctable errors (alkyl-, nitro-, and thiobenzenes). Relative free energies of hydration obtained with rigorous free energy perturbations using explicit solvent are also compared with energies from minimizations using a generalized Born model (GB). There is high correlation between these estimates (R = 0.99), and as demonstrated here, reparameterization of the aforementioned groups can be guided with rapid GB calculations.     

Magnitude and orientation dependence of intermolecular interaction of perfluoropropane dimer studied by high-level ab initio calculations: comparison with propane dimer

Intermolecular interaction energies of 12 orientations of C(3)F(8) dimers were calculated with electron correlation correction by the second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation method. The antiparallel C(2h) dimer has the largest interaction energy (-1.45 kcal/mol). Electron correlation correction increases the attraction considerably. Electrostatic energy is not large. Dispersion is mainly responsible for the attraction. Orientation dependence of the interaction energy of the C(3)F(8) dimer is substantially smaller than that of the C(3)H(8) dimer. The calculated interaction energy of the C(3)F(8) dimer at the potential minimum is 78% of that of the C(3)H(8) dimer (-1.85 kcal/mol), whereas the interaction energies of the CF(4) and C(2)F(6) dimers are larger than those of the CH(4) and C(2)H(6) dimers. The intermolecular separation in the C(3)F(8) dimer at the potential minimum is substantially larger than that in the C(3)H(8) dimer. The larger intermolecular separation due to the steric repulsion between fluorine atoms is the cause of the smaller interaction energy of the C(3)F(8) dimer at the potential minimum. The calculated intermolecular interaction energy potentials of the C(3)F(8) dimers using an all atom model OPLS-AA (OPLS all atom model) force field and a united atom model force field were compared with the ab initio calculations. Although the two force fields well reproduces the experimental vapor and liquid properties of perfluoroalkenes, the comparison shows that the united atom model underestimates the potential depth and orientation dependence of the interaction energy. The potentials obtained by the OPLS-AA force field are close to those obtained by the ab initio calculations.     

Transferable potentials for phase equilibria. 9. Explicit hydrogen description of benzene and five-membered and six-membered heterocyclic aromatic compounds

The explicit hydrogen version of the transferable potentials for phase equilibria (TraPPE-EH) force field is extended to benzene, pyridine, pyrimidine, pyrazine, pyridazine, thiophene, furan, pyrrole, thiazole, oxazole, isoxazole, imidazole, and pyrazole. While the Lennard-Jones parameters for carbon, hydrogen (two types), nitrogen (two types), oxygen, and sulfur are transferable for all 13 compounds, the partial charges are specific for each compound. The benzene dimer energies for sandwich, T-shape, and parallel-displaced configurations obtained for the TraPPE-EH force field compare favorably with high-level electronic structure calculations. Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to compute the single-component vapor-liquid equilibria for benzene, pyridine, three diazenes, and eight five-membered heterocycles. The agreement with experimental data is excellent with the liquid densities and vapor pressures reproduced within 1 and 5%, respectively. The critical temperatures and normal boiling points are predicted with mean deviations of 0.8 and 1.6%, respectively.     

Polarizable empirical force field for alkanes based on the classical Drude oscillator model

Recent extensions of potential energy functions used in empirical force field calculations have involved the inclusion of electronic polarizability. To properly include this extension into a potential energy function it is necessary to systematically and rigorously optimize the associated parameters based on model compounds for which extensive experimental data are available. In the present work, optimization of parameters for alkanes in a polarizable empirical force field based on a classical Drude oscillator is presented. Emphasis is placed on the development of parameters for CH3, CH2, and CH moieties that are directly transferable to long chain alkanes, as required for lipids and other biomolecules. It is shown that a variety of quantum mechanical and experimental target data are reproduced by the polarizable model. Notable is the proper treatment of the dielectric constant of pure alkanes by the polarizable force field, a property essential for the accurate treatment of, for example, hydrophobic solvation in lipid bilayers. The present alkane force field will act as the basis for the aliphatic moieties in an extensive empirical force field for biomolecules that includes the explicit treatment of electronic polarizability.     

Distribution patterns and controllable transport of water inside and outside charged single-walled carbon nanotubes

The density distribution patterns of water inside and outside neutral and charged single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) soaked in water have been studied using molecular dynamics simulations based on TIP3P potential and Lennard-Jones parameters of CHARMM force field, in conjunction with ab initio calculations to provide the electron density distributions of the systems. Water molecules show different electropism near positively and negatively charged SWNTs. Different density distribution patterns of water, depending on the diameter and chirality of the SWNTs, are observed inside and outside the tube wall. These special distribution patterns formed can be explained in terms of the van der Waals and electrostatic interactions between the water molecules and the carbon atoms on the hexagonal network of carbon nanotubes. The electric field produced by the highly charged SWNTs leads to high filling speed of water molecules, while it prevents them from flowing out of the nanotube. Water molecules enter the neutral SWNTs slowly and can flow out of the nanotube in a fluctuating manner. It indicates that by adjusting the electric charge on the SWNTs, one can control the adsorption and transport behavior of polar molecules in SWNTs to be used as stable storage medium with template effect or transport channels. The transport rate can be tailored by changing the charge on the SWNTs.     

石油化学粗粒化分子力学/分子动力学力场：Ⅰ.烷烃的粗粒化模型

提供了一种用以描述石油中烷烃分子的通用型粗粒化模型.依据石油中烷烃的结构特征,划分出从A1到A7共7种粗粒化珠子.7种烷烃的粗粒化珠子含有3～6个碳原子,与之相对应的既有直链烷烃,也有支链烷烃.这些基本结构单元以不同的组合方式可以得到石油中从C3～C40各种烷烃的粗粒化分子.为了获得精确的力场参数,采用密度泛函方法优化...