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Prampolini G, Campetella M, Ferretti A. Solvent effects on catechol's binding affinity: investigating the role of the intra-molecular hydrogen bond through a multi-level computational approach. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:2523-2536. [PMID: 36602108 DOI: 10.1039/d2cp04500a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The subtle interplay between the inter-molecular interactions established by catechol with the surrounding solvent and the intra-molecular hydrogen bond (HB) characterizing its conformational dynamics is investigated through a multi-level computational approach. First, quantum mechanical (QM) calculations are employed to accurately characterize both large portions of the catechol's potential energy surface and the interaction energy with neighboring solvent molecules. The acquired information is thereafter exploited to develop a QM derived force-field (QMD-FF), in turn employed in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on classical mechanics. The reliability of the QMD-FF is further validated through a comparison with the outcomes of ab initio molecular dynamics, also purposely carried out in this work. In agreement with recent experimental findings, the MD results reveal remarkable differences in the conformational behavior of isolated and solvated catechol, as well as among the investigated solvents, namely water, acetonitrile or cyclohexane. The rather strong intramolecular HB, settled between the vicinal phenolic groups and maintained in the gas phase, loses stability when catechol is solvated in polar solvents, and is definitively lost in protic solvents such as water. In fact, the internal energy increase associated with the rotation of one hydroxyl group and the breaking of the internal HB is well compensated by the intermolecular HB network available when both phenolic hydrogens point toward the surrounding solvent. In such a case, catechol is stabilized in a chelating conformation, which in turn could be very effective in water removal and surface anchoring. Besides unraveling the role of the different contributors that govern catechol's conformational dynamics, the QMD-FF developed in this work could be in future employed to model larger catechol containing molecules, due to its accuracy to reliably model both internal flexibility and solvent effects, while exploiting MD computational benefits to include more complex players as for instance surfaces, ions or biomolecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Prampolini
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti OrganoMetallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy.
| | - Marco Campetella
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Chimica e Farmacia, Università di Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2 SI, Siena, I-53100, Italy
| | - Alessandro Ferretti
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti OrganoMetallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy.
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Greff da Silveira L, Livotto PR, Padula D, Vilhena JG, Prampolini G. Accurate Quantum-Mechanically Derived Force-Fields through a Fragment-Based Approach: Balancing Specificity and Transferability in the Prediction of Self-Assembly in Soft Matter. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:6905-6919. [PMID: 36260420 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The wide range of time/length scales covered by self-assembly in soft matter makes molecular dynamics (MD) the ideal candidate for simulating such a supramolecular phenomenon at an atomistic level. However, the reliability of MD outcomes heavily relies on the accuracy of the adopted force-field (FF). The spontaneous re-ordering in liquid crystalline materials stands as a clear example of such collective self-assembling processes, driven by a subtle and delicate balance between supramolecular interactions and single-molecule flexibility. General-purpose transferable FFs often dramatically fail to reproduce such complex phenomena, for example, the error on the transition temperatures being larger than 100 K. Conversely, quantum-mechanically derived force-fields (QMD-FFs), specifically tailored for the target system, were recently shown (J. Phys. Chem. Lett.2022,13, 243) to allow for the required accuracy as they not only well reproduced transition temperatures but also yielded a quantitative agreement with the experiment on a wealth of structural, dynamic, and thermodynamic properties. The main drawback of this strategy stands in the computational burden connected to the numerous quantum mechanical (QM) calculations usually required for a target-specific parameterization, which has undoubtedly hampered the routine application of QMD-FFs. In this work, we propose a fragment-based strategy to extend the applicability of QMD-FFs, in which the amount of QM calculations is significantly reduced, being a single-molecule-optimized geometry and its Hessian matrix the only QM information required. To validate this route, a new FF is assembled for a large mesogen, exploiting the parameters obtained for two smaller liquid crystalline molecules, in this and previous work. Lengthy MD simulations are carried out with the new transferred QMD-FF, observing again a spontaneous re-orientation in the correct range of temperatures, with good agreement with the available experimental measures. The present results strongly suggest that a partial transfer of QMD-FF parameters can be invoked without a significant loss of accuracy, thus paving the way to exploit the method's intrinsic predictive capabilities in the simulation of novel soft materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leandro Greff da Silveira
- Instituto de Química (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul), Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91501-970Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Paolo Roberto Livotto
- Instituto de Química (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul), Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91501-970Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Daniele Padula
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Chimica e Farmacia (Università di Siena), via Aldo Moro 2, 53100Siena, SI, Italy
| | - J G Vilhena
- Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), E-28049Madrid, Spain.,Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC) (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), E-28049Madrid, Spain
| | - Giacomo Prampolini
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti OrganoMetallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124Pisa, Italy
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Ferretti A, Prampolini G. Complexes of Alkaline and Ammonium Cations with Dopamine and Eumelanin Precursors: Dissecting the Role of Noncovalent Cation-π and Cation-Lone Pair (σ-Type) Interactions. J Phys Chem A 2022; 126:2330-2341. [PMID: 35394779 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.2c00333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Cation-π interactions and their possible competition with other noncovalent interactions (NCI) might play a key role in both dopamine- and eumelanin-based bioinspired materials. In this contribution, to unravel the delicate interplay between cation-π interactions and other possible competing forces, the configurational space of noncovalent complexes formed by dopamine or eumelanin precursors (o-benzoquinone, DHI and a semiquinone dimer) and three different cations (Na+, K+, and NH4+) is sampled by means of accurate ab initio calculations. To this end, we resort to the mp2mod method, recently validated by us for benzene-, phenol-, and catechol-cation complexes, whose computational convenience allows for an extensive exploration of the cation-molecule interaction energy surface, by sampling a total of more than 104 arrangements. The mp2mod interaction energy landscapes reveal that, besides the expected cation-π driven arrangements, for all considered molecule-cation pairs the most stable complexes are found when the cation lies within the plane containing the six-membered ring, thus maximizing the σ-type interaction with the oxygen's lone pairs. Due to the loss of aromaticity, the σ-type/cation-π strength ratio is remarkably large in o-benzoquinone, where cation-π complexes seem unlikely to be formed. The above features are shared among all considered cations but are significantly larger when considering the smaller Na+. Besides delivering a deeper insight onto the NCI network established by the considered precursors in the presence of ions, the present results can serve as a reference database to validate or refine lower level methods, as, for instance, the force fields employed in classical simulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Ferretti
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti OrganoMetallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Giacomo Prampolini
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti OrganoMetallici (ICCOM-CNR), Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
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Ferretti A, Prampolini G, d’Ischia M. Noncovalent interactions in catechol/ammonium-rich adhesive motifs: Reassessing the role of cation-π complexes? Chem Phys Lett 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cplett.2021.138815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
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Vilhena JG, Greff da Silveira L, Livotto PR, Cacelli I, Prampolini G. Automated Parameterization of Quantum Mechanically Derived Force Fields for Soft Materials and Complex Fluids: Development and Validation. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:4449-4464. [PMID: 34185536 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The reliability of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in predicting macroscopic properties of complex fluids and soft materials, such as liquid crystals, colloidal suspensions, or polymers, relies on the accuracy of the adopted force field (FF). We present an automated protocol to derive specific and accurate FFs, fully based on ab initio quantum mechanical (QM) data. The integration of the Joyce and Picky procedures, recently proposed by our group to provide an accurate description of simple liquids, is here extended to larger molecules, capable of exhibiting more complex fluid phases. While the standard Joyce protocol is employed to parameterize the intramolecular FF term, a new automated procedure is here proposed to handle the computational cost of the QM calculations required for the parameterization of the intermolecular FF term. The latter is thus obtained by integrating the old Picky procedure with a fragmentation reconstruction method (FRM) that allows for a reliable, yet computationally feasible sampling of the intermolecular energy surface at the QM level. The whole FF parameterization protocol is tested on a benchmark liquid crystal, and the performances of the resulting quantum mechanically derived (QMD) FF were compared with those delivered by a general-purpose, transferable one, and by the third, "hybrid" FF, where only the bonded terms were refined against QM data. Lengthy atomistic MD simulations are carried out with each FF on extended 5CB systems in both isotropic and nematic phases, eventually validating the proposed protocol by comparing the resulting macroscopic properties with other computational models and with experiments. The QMD-FF yields the best performances, reproducing both phases in the correct range of temperatures and well describing their structure, dynamics, and thermodynamic properties, thus providing a clear protocol that may be explored to predict such properties on other complex fluids or soft materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- J G Vilhena
- Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Leandro Greff da Silveira
- Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Paolo Roberto Livotto
- Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves 9500, CEP 91501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Ivo Cacelli
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università di Pisa, Via G. Moruzzi 13, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Giacomo Prampolini
- Istituto di Chimica dei Composti OrganoMetallici, ICCOM-CNR, Area della Ricerca, via G. Moruzzi 1, I-56124 Pisa, Italy
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles L. Brooks
- Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
| | - David A. Case
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08854, USA
| | - Steve Plimpton
- Computational Multiscale Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1316, USA
| | - Benoît Roux
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
| | - David van der Spoel
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Emad Tajkhorshid
- NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics, Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Department of Biochemistry, and Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
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Yu Y, Krämer A, Venable RM, Simmonett AC, MacKerell AD, Klauda JB, Pastor RW, Brooks BR. Semi-automated Optimization of the CHARMM36 Lipid Force Field to Include Explicit Treatment of Long-Range Dispersion. J Chem Theory Comput 2021; 17:1562-1580. [PMID: 33620214 PMCID: PMC8059446 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.0c01326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The development of the CHARMM lipid force field (FF) can be traced back to the early 1990s with its current version denoted CHARMM36 (C36). The parametrization of C36 utilized high-level quantum mechanical data and free energy calculations of model compounds before parameters were manually adjusted to yield agreement with experimental properties of lipid bilayers. While such manual fine-tuning of FF parameters is based on intuition and trial-and-error, automated methods can identify beneficial modifications of the parameters via their sensitivities and thereby guide the optimization process. This work introduces a semi-automated approach to reparametrize the CHARMM lipid FF with consistent inclusion of long-range dispersion through the Lennard-Jones particle-mesh Ewald (LJ-PME) approach. The optimization method is based on thermodynamic reweighting with regularization with respect to the C36 set. Two independent optimizations with different topology restrictions are presented. Targets of the optimizations are primarily liquid crystalline phase properties of lipid bilayers and the compression isotherm of monolayers. Pair correlation functions between water and lipid functional groups in aqueous solution are also included to address headgroup hydration. While the physics of the reweighting strategy itself is well-understood, applying it to heterogeneous, complex anisotropic systems poses additional challenges. These were overcome through careful selection of target properties and reweighting settings allowing for the successful incorporation of the explicit treatment of long-range dispersion, and we denote the newly optimized lipid force field as C36/LJ-PME. The current implementation of the optimization protocol will facilitate the future development of the CHARMM and related lipid force fields.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yalun Yu
- Biophysics Graduate Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
| | - Andreas Krämer
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
| | - Richard M Venable
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
| | - Andrew C Simmonett
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
| | - Alexander D MacKerell
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, United States
| | - Jeffery B Klauda
- Biophysics Graduate Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, United States
| | - Richard W Pastor
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
| | - Bernard R Brooks
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
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Oliveira MP, Andrey M, Rieder SR, Kern L, Hahn DF, Riniker S, Horta BAC, Hünenberger PH. Systematic Optimization of a Fragment-Based Force Field against Experimental Pure-Liquid Properties Considering Large Compound Families: Application to Saturated Haloalkanes. J Chem Theory Comput 2020; 16:7525-7555. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.0c00683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marina P. Oliveira
- Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, ETH Zürich, ETH-Honggerberg, HCI, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Maurice Andrey
- Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, ETH Zürich, ETH-Honggerberg, HCI, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Salomé R. Rieder
- Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, ETH Zürich, ETH-Honggerberg, HCI, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Leyla Kern
- Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, ETH Zürich, ETH-Honggerberg, HCI, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - David F. Hahn
- Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, ETH Zürich, ETH-Honggerberg, HCI, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Sereina Riniker
- Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, ETH Zürich, ETH-Honggerberg, HCI, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Bruno A. C. Horta
- Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-909, Brazil
| | - Philippe H. Hünenberger
- Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie, ETH Zürich, ETH-Honggerberg, HCI, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
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Valadez Huerta G, Raabe G. Genetic Parameterization of Interfacial Force Fields Based on Classical Bulk Force Fields and Ab Initio Data: Application to the Methanol-ZnO Interfaces. J Chem Inf Model 2020; 60:6033-6043. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.0c01093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gerardo Valadez Huerta
- Institut für Thermodynamik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Straße 5, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Gabriele Raabe
- Institut für Thermodynamik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Straße 5, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany
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Abstract
The fundamental underpinnings of noncovalent bonds are presented, focusing on the σ-hole interactions that are closely related to the H-bond. Different means of assessing their strength and the factors that control it are discussed. The establishment of a noncovalent bond is monitored as the two subunits are brought together, allowing the electrostatic, charge redistribution, and other effects to slowly take hold. Methods are discussed that permit prediction as to which site an approaching nucleophile will be drawn, and the maximum number of bonds around a central atom in its normal or hypervalent states is assessed. The manner in which a pair of anions can be held together despite an overall Coulombic repulsion is explained. The possibility that first-row atoms can participate in such bonds is discussed, along with the introduction of a tetrel analog of the dihydrogen bond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steve Scheiner
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322-0300, USA
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