Proton binding to humic nano particles: Electrostatic interaction and the condensation approximation

Proton binding to “carboxylic” and “phenolic” sites of humic nano particles (HNPs) is determined by the total proton affinity that is due to a specific and an electrostatic contribution. These...

Quinoxalinedione deprotonation is important for glutamate receptor binding

Quinoxalinediones are an important class of competitive antagonists at ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs), where they are widely used to block α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) and kainate receptor responses. In this study we utilize two prototypic quinoxalinedione antagonists, namely DNQX and CNQX, which quench the intrinsic fluorescence of the ligand binding domain (LBD), to perform in vitro binding assays. We find that binding of DNQX and CNQX at the AMPA receptor GluA2 LBD is strongly pH dependent, whereas glutamate binding is not affected by pH. We also show that the deprotonation of DNQX, CNQX and other quinoxalinediones (NBQX and YM90K) occurs close to physiological pH, which can be explained by the lactam-lactim tautomerization of the quinoxalinedione scaffold. Analysis of our binding data indicates that quinoxalinedione deprotonation is a key requirement for binding, as we find a >100-fold higher affinity for binding of the monoanionic form compared to the neutral form. This suggests a large electrostatic contribution to the interaction with a conserved arginine residue located in the binding pocket of iGluRs. The strong pH dependence of quinoxalinedione binding, which has not previously been reported, is relevant for structure-function studies, but also for the use of quinoxalinediones in physiological experiments and envisioned therapeutic applications.

Exploring concomitant/conformational dimorphism in a difluoro-substituted phosphoramidate derivative

The concomitant occurrence of dimorphs of diphenyl (3,4-difluorophenyl)phosphoramidate, C18H14F2NO3P, was observed via a solution-mediated crystallization process with variation in the symmetry-free molecules (Z′). The existence of two forms, i.e. Form I (block, Z′ = 1) and Form II (needle, Z′ = 2), was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and powder X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, a quantitative analysis of the energetics of the different intermolecular interactions was carried out via the energy decomposition method (PIXEL), which corroborates with inputs from the energy framework and looks at the topology of the various intermolecular interactions present in both forms. The unequivocally distinguished contribution of strong N—H...O hydrogen bonds along with other interactions, such as C—H...O, C—H...F, π–π and C—H...π, mapped on the Hirshfeld surface is depicted by two-dimensional fingerprint plots. Apart from the major electrostatic contribution from N—H...O hydrogen bonds, the crystal structures are stabilized by contributions from the dispersion energy. The closely related melting points and opposite trends in the calculated lattice energies are interesting to investigate with respect to the thermodynamic stability of the observed dimorphs. The significant variation in the torsion angles in both forms helps in classifying them in the category of conformational polymorphs.

Molecular Simulation of the Separation of Isoleucine Enantiomers by β-Cyclodextrin

Molecular mechanics and dynamics simulations were carried out to study the capacity of isoleucine enantiomers to form inclusion complexes with β–cyclodextrin, and to be discriminated by this chiral compound, in vacuo and with different solvents. Solvents were characterized not only by the value of dielectric constant ε in the Coulombic interaction energy, but also by the neutral and zwitterion configurations of isoleucine. Whereas the discrimination between the enantiomers for ε ≤ 2 is due to the electrostatic contribution, these differences are mainly due to the Lennard-Jones potential for ε > 2. The most enantioselective regions are located near the cavity walls, independently of the solvent. D-Ile is more stable than L-Ile in broader regions in vacuo, but L-Ile presents more stable locations with water. Isoleucine can form inclusion complexes with β–cyclodextrin in vacuo and with different solvents. Two probable configurations are deduced from the molecular dynamics simulation, in which the guest is always inside the cavity and with the carboxylic end of the amino acid oriented towards either rim of β–CD. In the simulation, the enantiomers preferentially occupy regions with greater chiral discrimination. The first eluted enantiomer in vacuo and with different solvents is L-Ile, independently of the solvent polarity.

An Ab Initio QM/MM Study of the Electrostatic Contribution to Catalysis in the Active Site of Ketosteroid Isomerase

The electric field in the hydrogen-bond network of the active site of ketosteroid isomerase (KSI) has been experimentally measured using vibrational Stark effect (VSE) spectroscopy, and utilized to study the electrostatic contribution to catalysis. A large gap was found in the electric field between the computational simulation based on the Amber force field and the experimental measurement. In this work, quantum mechanical (QM) calculations of the electric field were performed using an ab initio QM/MM molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and electrostatically embedded generalized molecular fractionation with conjugate caps (EE-GMFCC) method. Our results demonstrate that the QM-derived electric field based on the snapshots from QM/MM MD simulation could give quantitative agreement with the experiment. The accurate calculation of the electric field inside the protein requires both the rigorous sampling of configurations, and a QM description of the electrostatic field. Based on the direct QM calculation of the electric field, we theoretically confirmed that there is a linear correlation relationship between the activation free energy and the electric field in the active site of wild-type KSI and its mutants (namely, D103N, Y16S, and D103L). Our study presents a computational protocol for the accurate simulation of the electric field in the active site of the protein, and provides a theoretical foundation that supports the link between electric fields and enzyme catalysis.