Free energy profile method

One weakness of this treatment, however, is that it neglects entropic contributions. Entropic contributions were considered in the free energy profiles (FEP) calculated earlier using umbrella sampling [58] and Monte Carlo Free energy Perturbation [59], both using a QM/MM scheme and the AMI Hamiltonian for the QM part. Our group used the same SIESTA DFT-based QM/MM method described above... 

Initially, we have applied the modified NEB method to the calculation of both steps of the 40T catalyzed reaction. The free energy profiles and relative free energies obtained with this method were compared to our previously determined profiles [33], As we had previously shown, the calculated MEPs for Ref. [33] determined with the reaction coordinate driving method, and the MEPs for Ref. [25] calculated with the parallel path optimizer method, agree in the overall shape and relative potential energies. This provides a good starting point for our comparison. 

We have also presented the development of a method that enables the determination of free energy profiles associated with calculated MEPs for enzymatic reaction... 

With the characterized mechanism, the next key question is the origin of its catalytic power. A prerequisite for this investigation is to reliably compute free energy barriers for both enzyme and solution reactions. By employing on-the-fly Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations with the ab initio QM/MM approach and the umbrella sampling method, we have determined free energy profiles for the methyl-transfer reaction catalyzed by the histone lysine methyltransferase SET7/9... 

Fig. 4.5. Free energy profile of alanine dipeptide as a function of

Free energy profiles can also be evaluated within the partial path transition interface sampling method (PPTIS), a path sampling technique designed for the calculation of reaction rate constant in systems with diffusive barrier-crossing events [31,32], In this approach, the reaction rate is expressed in terms of transitions probabilities between a series of nonintersecting interfaces located between regions. c/ and... 

With Jarzynski s identity in the form of (8.46), we can apply to it the skewed momenta method simply by setting A[r(f)] = exp(— /3Wt). However, we anticipate that the method will be most useful in the particular case of calculating free energy profiles from pulling experiments, for which Hummer and Szabo have provided a modified form of Jarzynski s expression [106]. 

GH Theory was originally developed to describe chemical reactions in solution involving a classical nuclear solute reactive coordinate x. The identity of x will depend of course on the reaction type, i.e., it will be a separation coordinate in an SnI unimolecular ionization and an asymmetric stretch in anSN2 displacement reaction. To begin our considerations, we can picture a reaction free energy profile in the solute reactive coordinate x calculated via the potential of mean force Geq(x) -the system free energy when the system is equilibrated at each fixed value of x, which would be the output of e.g. equilibrium Monte Carlo or Molecular Dynamics calculations [25] or equilibrium integral equation methods [26], Attention then focusses on the barrier top in this profile, located at x. ... 

Using the umbrella sampling method, Rose and Benjamin determined the free-energy profile for Na and CUover the range from bulk water to... 

Ah initio calculations to map out the gas-phase activation free energy profiles of the reactions of trimethyl phosphate (TMP) (246) with three nucleophiles, HO, MeO and F have been carried out. The calculations revealed, inter alia, a novel activation free-energy pathway for HO attack on TMP in the gas phase in which initial addition at phosphorus is followed by pseudorotation and subsequent elimination with simultaneous intramolecular proton transfer. Ah initio calculations and continuum dielectric methods have been employed to map out the lowest activation free-energy profiles for the alkaline hydrolysis of a five-membered cyclic phosphate, methyl ethylene phosphate (247), its acyclic analogue, trimethyl phosphate (246), and its six-membered ring counterpart, methyl propylene phosphate (248). The rate-limiting step for the three reactions was found to be hydroxyl ion attack at the phosphorus atom of the triester. ... 

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