Binding free energy, energy and entropy calculations using simple model systems

Free energy differences are calculated for a set of two model host molecules, binding acetone and methanol. Two active sites of different characteristics were constructed based on an artificially extended C60 fullerene molecule, possibly functionalised to include polar interactions in an otherwise apolar, spherical cavity. The model host systems minimise the necessary sampling of conformational space while still capturing key aspects of ligand binding. The estimates of the free energies are split up into energetic and entropic contributions, using three different approaches investigating the convergence behaviour. For these systems, a direct calculation of the total energy and entropy is more efficient than calculating the entropy from the temperature dependence of the free energy or from a direct thermodynamic integration formulation. Furthermore, the compensating surrounding–surrounding energies and entropies are split off by calculating reduced ligand-surrounding energies and entropies. These converge much more readily and lead to properties that are more straightforwardly interpreted in terms of molecular interactions and configurations. Even though not experimentally accessible, the reduced thermodynamic properties may prove highly relevant for computational drug design, as they may give direct insights into possibilities to further optimise ligand binding while optimisation in the surrounding–surrounding energy or entropy will exactly cancel and not lead to improved affinity.