ASC implicit solvent models

A more sophisticated description of the solvent is achieved using an Apparent Surface Charge (ASC) [1,3] placed on the surface of a cavity containing the solute. This cavity, usually of molecular shape, is dug into a polarizable continuum medium and the proper electrostatic problem is solved on the cavity boundary, taking into account the mutual polarization of the solute and solvent. The Polarizable Continuum Model (PCM) [1,3,7] belongs to this class of ASC implicit solvent models. 

In the following sections we will review the possible choices of free energy functionals for both dielectric and conductor boundary conditions, focusing on their applicability in the context of ASC implicit solvent models. Then in Section 1.4.5 we will present our... 

To the best of our knowledge, this is the only free energy functional that can be readily introduced in an ASC implicit solvent model as it involves only surface integrals in terms of the independent polarization variable which is no longer a three-dimensional field, but instead assumes the form of a surface charge distribution on the dielectric boundary. 

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