Williams García-Argote, Lina Ruiz, Diego Inostroza, Carlos Cardenas, Osvaldo Yañez, William Tiznado
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Context
Exploring potential energy surfaces (PES) is fundamental in computational chemistry, as it provides insights into the relationship between molecular energy, geometry, and chemical reactivity. We introduce Kick-MEP, a hybrid method for exploring the PES of atomic and molecular clusters, particularly those dominated by non-covalent interactions. Kick-MEP computes the Coulomb integral between the maximum and minimum electrostatic potential values on a 0.001 a.u. electron density isosurface for two interacting fragments. This approach efficiently estimates interaction energies and selects low-energy configurations at reduced computational cost. Kick-MEP was evaluated on silicon-lithium clusters, water clusters, and thymol encapsulated within Cucurbit[7]uril, consistently identifying the lowest energy structures, including global minima and relevant local minima.
Methods
Kick-MEP generates an initial population of molecular structures using the stochastic Kick algorithm, which combines two molecular fragments (A and B). The molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) values on a 0.001 a.u. electron density isosurface for each fragment are used to compute the Coulomb integral between them. Structures with the lowest Coulomb integral are selected and refined through gradient-based optimization and DFT calculations at the PBE0-D3/Def2-TZVP level. Molecular docking simulations for the thymol-Cucurbit[7]uril complex using AutoDock Vina were performed for benchmarking. Kick-MEP was validated across different molecular systems, demonstrating its effectiveness in identifying the lowest energy structures, including global minima and relevant local minima, while maintaining a low computational cost.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Molecular Modeling focuses on "hardcore" modeling, publishing high-quality research and reports. Founded in 1995 as a purely electronic journal, it has adapted its format to include a full-color print edition, and adjusted its aims and scope fit the fast-changing field of molecular modeling, with a particular focus on three-dimensional modeling.
Today, the journal covers all aspects of molecular modeling including life science modeling; materials modeling; new methods; and computational chemistry.
Topics include computer-aided molecular design; rational drug design, de novo ligand design, receptor modeling and docking; cheminformatics, data analysis, visualization and mining; computational medicinal chemistry; homology modeling; simulation of peptides, DNA and other biopolymers; quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) and ADME-modeling; modeling of biological reaction mechanisms; and combined experimental and computational studies in which calculations play a major role.