A simple approach for improving the hybrid MMVB force field: application to the photoisomerization of s-cis butadiene

MMVB is a QM/MM hybrid method, consisting of a molecular mechanics force field coupled to a valence bond Heisenberg Hamiltonian parametrized from ab initio CASSCF calculations on several prototype molecules. The Heisenberg Hamiltonian matrix elements Q(ij) and K(ij), whose expressions are partitioned here into a primary contribution and second-order correction terms, are calculated analytically in MMVB. When the original MMVB force field fails to produce potential energy surfaces accurate enough for dynamics calculations, we show that significant improvements can be made by refitting the second-order correction terms for the particular molecule(s) being studied. This "local" reparametrization is based on values of K(ij) extracted (using effective Hamiltonian techniques) from CASSCF calculations on the same molecule(s). The method is demonstrated for the photoisomerization of s-cis butadiene, and we explain how the correction terms that enabled a successful MMVB dynamics study [Garavelli, M.; Bernardi, F.; Olivucci, M.; Bearpark, M. J.; Klein, S.; Robb, M. A. J Phys Chem A 2001, 105, 11496] were refitted.     

2-Methylthio-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-<Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis>]pyrimidin-5- and -7-Ones

The cyclocondensation of methylcinnamates and arylidene derivatives of Meldrums acid with 3-amino-5-methylthio-1,2,4-triazole in DMF gives 2-methylthio-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]-pyrimidin-5-ones. The reaction involving arylidene derivatives of Meldrums acid or its synthetic equivalents in ethyl acetate with a catalytic amount of pyridine gives a mixture of 2-methylthio-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-5- and -7-ones.__________Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 2, pp. 246–251, February, 2005.     

Mixed micellar systems of octyl β,d-glucopyranoside with a nonionic surfactant and a water-soluble polymer

We have made a comparative study between the micellar regions of the octyl -d-glucoside (OG)–tetraethylene glycol monododecyl ether and the OG–poly(ethylene glycol) 20,000 systems by means of surface tension and viscosimetric measurements. The incorporation of the tetraethylene glycol monododecyl ether nonionic surfactant in the OG micelles decreases the critical micelle concentration, whereas the presence of polymer increases it. The nonionic surfactant mixture exhibits nonideal mixing behaviour. The data fit to Rubinghs treatment with a value of –5.1, which implies a modest attraction between both surfactants. The surfactant–poly(ethylene glycol) 20,000 system does not form mixed micelles. The incorporation of polymer increases the critical micelle concentration of the surfactant. The viscosity for the surfactant–polymer system is higher than that for the pure polymer, demonstrating a surfactant-induced structuring.     

二次乳化法(W/O)/W制备蛋白质流通色谱固定相的研究

以甲基丙烯酸缩水甘油酯为单体,二甲基丙烯酸乙二醇酯为交联剂,甲苯与正庚烷为有机致孔剂,20%的甘油水溶液为内水相(超孔致孔剂),利用二次乳化法制备了(W/O)/W乳液,通过紫外光引发悬浮聚合生成两类孔型高分子微球(BiPB).BiPB孔径为双峰分布,范围分别在10~100nm和1000~7300nm之间;而其体积平均粒径、比表面积、湿密度、静态吸附容量与不含超孔的微孔介质(MiPB)接近.修饰相同二乙胺密度的BiPB和MiPB介质虽在较低流速(5cm/min)下有相近的动态吸附容量,但在高流速(40cm/min)下BiPB的动态吸附容量约为MiPB的动态吸附容量的3倍,表明BiPB介质的超孔结构对孔内传质的强化作用,因而其更适合于高速的蛋白质色谱分离.     

Liquid Chromatographic Resolution of Racemic α-Hydroxycarboxylic Acids on Ligand Exchange Chiral Stationary Phases

Two ligand exchange chiral stationary phases (CSPs) based on (S)-leucinol derivative, sodium N-((S)-1-hydroxymethyl-3-methylbutyl)-N-undecylaminoacetate, and (R)-phenylglycinol derivative, sodium N-((R)-2-hydroxy-1-phenylethyl)-N-undecylaminoacetate, covalently bonded to silica gel have been successfully applied in the resolution of nine -hydroxycarboxylic acids. The latter was more effective than the former, the separation factors () being 1.05 to 2.12 while the resolution factors (R_S) varying from 0.18 to 5.29 on the latter. The chromatographic resolution behaviors were dependent on the type and the content of organic modifier and the content of CuSO₄ in aqueous mobile phase and the column temperature. A possible chiral recognition mechanism was also proposed based on the chromatographic resolution behaviors.     

Identification of oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in diesel particulate matter by capillary gas chromatography and capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Summary Using a two-step liquid chromatographic separation on normalphase cartridges, crude extracts of diesel particulate matter can be separated without time-consuming sample handling into special fractions which mainly contain slightly-polar oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (oxy-PAH) and nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (nitro-PAH). Subsequent analysis was by fused-silica capillary gas chromatography on a SE54 column along with flame-ionisation (GC/FID) and positive-ion electron-impact mass spectrometric detection (GC/MS) respectively. A number of individual oxy-PAH belonging to four different chemical classes (ketones, quinones, anhydrides and aldehydes) and several individual nitro-PAH were characterized by their retention times and mass spectra. Presented at the 15th International Symposium on Chromatography, Nürnberg, October 1984     

Molecular orbital treatments of hydrogen bonded systems. 2. Dimers of water and HCN

Calculations were performed to investigate the reliabilities of the CNDO/2, PRDDO, and MNDO approximate molecular orbital methods. Systems selected for study included the linear, cyclic, and bifurcated dimers of water as well as the linear and cyclic dimers of HCN. The PRDDO method was found to provide the most consistently accurate reproduction of ab initio and experimental data. CNDO/2 performed fairly well in a number of cases but yielded extremely poor results for the cyclic dimers of both H₂O and HCN. Hydrogen bond strengths were consistently underestimated by MNDO which also furnished erroneously large intermolecular separations. In addition, MNDO calculations indicate the bifurcated water dimer to be most stable in contrast to other quantum mechanical and experimental information.See Ref. [1] for Paper 1 of this series.     

Theoretical Study of Weakly Bound Dimers between Hydrogen Fluoride and Some Polar Molecules

Weakly bound linear and bent dimers, FH—X (where X = CO, OC, CNH, NCH, N₂O and ON₂), are investigated using the DFT B3LYP and ab initio MP2 methods with the same basis sets (6–311++G(3df,2pd)). The strengths of the H—C or H—N H‐bonds in dimers FH—CO, FH—CNH, and FH—N₂O are compared with those of the H—O or H—N H‐bonds in dimers FH—OC, FH—NCH, and FH—ON₂. The results obtained for the H‐bond distances, the elongation effect of the HF bond, the red shift of the HF stretching frequency, and the energy difference between the dimer and the charge transfer reveal that the H‐bonds of the first group of dimers are stronger than those of the second. The Gibbs energies calculated for the six dimer formations indicate that the weakly bound dimers are unstable at room temperature (T = 298 K) (FH—X's → FH + X's, ΔG < 0).     

Partial Molar Volumes of Amino Acids and Peptides in Aqueous Salt Solutions at 25°C and a Correlation with Stability of Proteins in the Presence of Salts

Partial molar volumes for a homologous series of amino acids and peptides have been measured in aqueous 1M sodium acetate, sodium thiocyanate, and sodium sulfate at 25^°C. These data have been utilized in conjunction with the data in water to deduce partial molar volumes of transfer V _2,m ⁰(tr) from water to these aqueous salt solutions. The volumes of transfer for the amino acids and peptides are found to be positive. The interpretation is that this result arises from the dominant interaction of the sodium salts with the charged centers of amino acids and peptides. Thermal denaturation of the structurally homologous proteins lysozyme and -lactalbumin has been studied in the presence of these salts. Significant thermal stabilization of hen egg-white lysozyme has been observed in the presence of sodium acetate and sodium sulfate. However, the thermal stabilization observed for -lactalbumin is very small in the presence of these salts and sodium thiocyanate leads to a lowering of its thermal denaturation temperature. The rise in the surface tension of aqueous salt solutions with salt concentration has been correlated with the calorimetric and volumetric measurements. The results show that V _2,m ⁰(tr) depends less on the type of electrolyte than on the ionic strength of the solution. The V _2,m ⁰(tr) values correlate very well with the increase in the surface tension of aqueous salt solutions, indicating significant role of surface tension in interactions of amino acids, peptides, or protein with the salts.     

Comparison between ab Initio and Modified INDO-MO Calculations of N20

Both STO-3G ab initio and s-p separation-type-modified INDO semiempirical methods were applied to molecular-orbital calculation of the N₂₀ molecule. From these two methods, the optimized bond distances between the nearest N atoms (d_n-n) and the most calculated thermodynamic data are close to each other. The positive values of ΔH_a° and ΔG_a° for the atomization reaction in this work prove that N₂₀ is stable. In contrast to conventional INDO and MINDO/3, but similar to former AMI and MNDO calculations, both ΔH_r° and ΔG_r° are positive in the formation reaction, which indicates that N₂₀ belongs to the category of high-energy molecules.