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Heteroaromatic species are commonly found in complex gaseous mixtures, from tobacco smoke to petroleum and asphaltene combustion products. At high temperatures, C–H bond rupture produces various dehydro radical isomers. We have used the spin–flip formulation of equation-of-motion coupled cluster theory with single and double substitutions (EOM-SF-CCSD) to characterize the energies and wave functions of the lowest lying singlet and triplet states of the diradical (2,3), (2,4), (2,5), and (3,4) di-dehydro isomers of pyrrole, furan, and thiophene. In all cases, these diradicals are minima on the broken-symmetry ωB97X-D/cc-pVDZ potential energy surface. In most cases, the diradical geometries distort to enhance through-space or through-bond coupling in the singlet states and to avoid Coulombic or exchange repulsion in the triplet states. EOM-SF-CCSD results indicate that all diradical isomers are two-configurational, closed shell singlet states. The only exceptions to this are for (2,3) and (2,4) thiophene and (2,3) pyrrole, which each contain more than two configurations. In all cases, the leading term in the multiconfigurational diradical wave function doubly occupies the symmetric radical σ orbital, indicative of either through-space or 1,3 through-bond coupling. We utilized the nucleus-independent chemical shift (NICS) approach to qualitatively assess aromaticity and find that this property varies and may be related to the energetic splittings in these diradical isomers. 

Abstract Oligomeric models of linear ladder silanes, siloxanes and siloxazanes with seven repeat units consisting of four-, six-, or eight-membered rings were designed and their conformations in chloroform were explored. The Low Mode–Monte Carlo conformational method was used to explore oligomeric flexibility on the OPLS-2005/GBSA(CHCl₃) potential energy surface to obtain a set of low energy structures for each oligomer. These structures were then optimized using B3LYP/6-31G*/SCRF-PBF(CHCl₃) calculations. The results indicate complex conformational dynamics with mostly non-planar, curved structures. Electron delocalization from the lone pair of electrons on N or O into empty 3d orbitals on Si was not observed. 

The COVID-19 pandemic was declared due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Viral infection is caused by the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) and the human ACE2 receptor (hACE2). Previous computational studies have identified repurposed small molecules that target the RBD, but very few have screened drugs in the RBD–hACE2 interface. When studies focus solely on the binding affinity between the drug and the RBD, they ignore the effect of hACE2, resulting in an incomplete analysis. We screened ACE inhibitors and previously identified SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors for binding to the RBD—hACE2 interface, and then conducted 500 ns of unrestrained molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of fosinopril, fosinoprilat, lisinopril, emodin, diquafosol, and physcion bound to the interface to assess the binding characteristics of these ligands. Based on MM-GBSA analysis, all six ligands bind favorably in the interface and inhibit the RBD–hACE2 interaction. However, when we repeat our simulation by first binding the drug to the RBD before interacting with hACE2, we find that fosinopril, fosinoprilat, and lisinopril result in a strongly interacting trimeric complex (RBD-drug-hACE2). Hydrogen bonding and pairwise decomposition analyses further suggest that fosinopril is the best RBD inhibitor. However, when lisinopril is bound, it stabilizes the trimeric complex and, therefore, is not an ideal potential drug candidate. Overall, these results reveal important atomistic interactions critical to the binding of the RBD to hACE2 and highlight the significance of including all protein partners in the evaluation of a potential drug candidate. 

Undergraduate research and education are critical parts of the scientific ecosystem. Professors at primarily undergraduate institutions ({PUIs}) bear responsibility for molding young scientists while carrying out high quality research. In this Voices piece, researchers offer inspiring replies to the following prompt: in your role as a professor, what are the challenges and opportunities when conducting research at a {PUI}?},