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1. Analysis of the conformational properties of amine ligands at the gold/water interface with QM, MM and QM/MM simulations

   https://doi.org/10.1039/C7CP06709G  

   Liang, Dongyue ; Hong, Jiewei ; Fang, Dong ; Bennett, Joseph W. ; Mason, Sara E. ; Hamers, Robert J. ; Cui, Qiang ( January 2018 , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics)

   We describe a strategy of integrating quantum mechanical (QM), hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) and MM simulations to analyze the physical properties of a solid/water interface. This protocol involves using a correlated ab initio (CCSD(T)) method to first calibrate Density Functional Theory (DFT) as the QM approach, which is then used in QM/MM simulations to compute relevant free energy quantities at the solid/water interface using a mean-field approximation of Yang et al. that decouples QM and MM thermal fluctuations; gas-phase QM/MM and periodic DFT calculations are used to determine the proper QM size in the QM/MM simulations. Finally, the QM/MM free energy results are compared with those obtained from MM simulations to directly calibrate the force field model for the solid/water interface. This protocol is illustrated by examining the orientations of an alkyl amine ligand at the gold/water interface, since the ligand conformation is expected to impact the chemical properties ( e.g. , charge) of the solid surface. DFT/MM and MM simulations using the INTERFACE force field lead to consistent results, suggesting that the effective gold/ligand interactions can be adequately described by a van der Waals model, while electrostatic and induction effects are largely quenched by solvation. The observed differencesmore »among periodic DFT, QM/MM and MM simulations, nevertheless, suggest that explicitly including electronic polarization and potentially charge transfer in the MM model can be important to the quantitative accuracy. The strategy of integrating multiple computational methods to cross-validate each other for complex interfaces is applicable to many problems that involve both inorganic/metallic and organic/biomolecular components, such as functionalized nanoparticles.« less
2. The influence of a solvent environment on direct non-covalent interactions between two molecules: A symmetry-adapted perturbation theory study of polarization tuning of π – π interactions by water

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0087302  

   Sirianni, Dominic A. ; Zhu, Xiao ; Sitkoff, Doree F. ; Cheney, Daniel L. ; Sherrill, C. David ( May 2022 , The Journal of Chemical Physics)

   High-level quantum chemical computations have provided significant insight into the fundamental physical nature of non-covalent interactions. These studies have focused primarily on gas-phase computations of small van der Waals dimers; however, these interactions frequently take place in complex chemical environments, such as proteins, solutions, or solids. To better understand how the chemical environment affects non-covalent interactions, we have undertaken a quantum chemical study of π– π interactions in an aqueous solution, as exemplified by T-shaped benzene dimers surrounded by 28 or 50 explicit water molecules. We report interaction energies (IEs) using second-order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory, and we apply the intramolecular and functional-group partitioning extensions of symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (ISAPT and F-SAPT, respectively) to analyze how the solvent molecules tune the π– π interactions of the solute. For complexes containing neutral monomers, even 50 explicit waters (constituting a first and partial second solvation shell) change total SAPT IEs between the two solute molecules by only tenths of a kcal mol −1 , while significant changes of up to 3 kcal mol −1 of the electrostatic component are seen for the cationic pyridinium–benzene dimer. This difference between charged and neutral solutes is attributed to large non-additive three-body interactions within solvated ion-containing complexes. Overall,more »except for charged solutes, our quantum computations indicate that nearby solvent molecules cause very little “tuning” of the direct solute–solute interactions. This indicates that differences in binding energies between the gas phase and solution phase are primarily indirect effects of the competition between solute–solute and solute–solvent interactions.« less
3. MLIMC: Machine learning-based implicit-solvent Monte Carlo

   https://doi.org/10.1063/1674-0068/cjcp2109150  

   Chen, Jiahui ; Geng, Weihua ; Wei, Guo-Wei ( December 2021 , Chinese Journal of Chemical Physics)

   Monte Carlo (MC) methods are important computational tools for molecular structure optimizations and predictions. When solvent effects are explicitly considered, MC methods become very expensive due to the large degree of freedom associated with the water molecules and mobile ions. Alternatively implicit-solvent MC can largely reduce the computational cost by applying a mean field approximation to solvent effects and meanwhile maintains the atomic detail of the target molecule. The two most popular implicit-solvent models are the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) model and the Generalized Born (GB) model in a way such that the GB model is an approximation to the PB model but is much faster in simulation time. In this work, we develop a machine learning-based implicit-solvent Monte Carlo (MLIMC) method by combining the advantages of both implicit solvent models in accuracy and efficiency. Specifically, the MLIMC method uses a fast and accurate PB-based machine learning (PBML) scheme to compute the electrostatic solvation free energy at each step. We validate our MLIMC method by using a benzene-water system and a protein-water system. We show that the proposed MLIMC method has great advantages in speed and accuracy for molecular structure optimization and prediction.
4. A generalized Rayleigh-Plesset equation for ions with solvent fluctuations

   Fan, C. ; Li, B. ; White, M. ( June 2021 , SIAM journal on applied mathematics)

   We introduce a mathematical modeling framework for the conformational dynamics of charged molecules (i.e., solutes) in an aqueous solvent (i.e., water or salted water). The solvent is treated as an incompressible fluid, and its fluctuating motion is described by the Stokes equation with the Landau–Lifschitz stochastic stress. The motion of the solute-solvent interface (i.e., the dielectric boundary) is determined by the fluid velocity together with the balance of the viscous force,hydrostatic pressure, surface tension, solute-solvent van der Waals interaction force, and electrostatic force. The electrostatic interactions are described by the dielectric Poisson–Boltzmann theory.Within such a framework, we derive a generalized Rayleigh–Plesset equation, a nonlinear stochastic ordinary differential equation (SODE), for the radius of a spherical charged molecule, such as anion. The spherical average of the stochastic stress leads to a multiplicative noise. We design and test numerical methods for solving the SODE and use the equation, together with explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations, to study the effective radius of a single ion. Potentially, our general modeling framework can be used to efficiently determine the solute-solvent interfacial structures and predict the free energies of more complex molecular systems.
5. Interfacial structural crossover and hydration thermodynamics of charged C ₆₀ in water

   https://doi.org/10.1039/c8cp05422c  

   Sarhangi, Setare Mostajabi ; Waskasi, Morteza M. ; Hashemianzadeh, Seyed Majid ; Matyushov, Dmitry V. ( October 2018 , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics)

   Classical molecular dynamics simulations of the hydration thermodynamics, structure, and dynamics of water in hydration shells of charged buckminsterfullerenes are presented in this study. Charging of fullerenes leads to a structural transition in the hydration shell, accompanied by creation of a significant population of dangling O–H bonds pointing toward the solute. In contrast to the well accepted structure–function paradigm, this interfacial structural transition causes nearly no effect on either the dynamics of hydration water or on the solvation thermodynamics. Linear response to the solute charge is maintained despite significant structural changes in the hydration shell, and solvation thermodynamic potentials are nearly insensitive to the altering structure. Only solvation heat capacities, which are higher thermodynamic derivatives of the solvation free energy, indicate some sensitivity to the local hydration structure. We have separated the solvation thermodynamic potentials into direct solute–solvent interactions and restructuring of the hydration shell and analyzed the relative contributions of electrostatic and nonpolar interactions to the solvation thermodynamics.