Potential-distribution theorem

The quantity of primary interest in our thermodynamic construction is the partial molar Gihhs free energy or chemical potential of the solute in solution. This chemical potential depends on the solution conditions the temperature, pressure, and solution composition. A standard thermodynamic analysis of equilibrium concludes that the chemical potential in a local region of a system is independent of spatial position. The ideal and excess contributions to the chemical potential determine the driving forces for chemical equilibrium, solute partitioning, and conformational equilibrium. This section introduces results that will be the object of the following portions of the chapter, and gives an initial discussion of those expected results. 

For a simple solute with no internal structure, i.e. no intramolecular degrees of freedom and therefore = 1, this chemical potential can be expressed as 

Since the density p appears in a dimensionless combination here, the concentration dependence of the chemical potential comes with a choice of concentration units. The first term on the right side of Eq. (3.1) expresses the colligative property of dilute solutions that the thermodynamic activity of the solute, is proportional to its concentration, p. The excess chemical potential accounts for intermolecular interactions between the solution molecules, and is given by the potential distribution theorem (Widom, 1963 1982)  

For a solute with internal degrees of freedom, the chemical potential is given by (Pratt, 1998) 

The probability that a solute molecule will adopt a specific conformation in solution is related to its chemical potential. This probability density function could be addressed in terms of the number density of solute molecules in conformation i , Pa ) - see Fig. 1.8, p. 17  

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We present a molecular theory of hydration that now makes possible a unification of these diverse views of the role of water in protein stabilization. The central element in our development is the potential distribution theorem. We discuss both its physical basis and statistical thermodynamic framework with applications to protein solution thermodynamics and protein folding in mind. To this end, we also derive an extension of the potential distribution theorem, the quasi-chemical theory, and propose its implementation to the hydration of folded and unfolded proteins. Our perspective and current optimism are justified by the understanding we have gained from successful applications of the potential distribution theorem to the hydration of simple solutes. A few examples are given to illustrate this point. 

Equations (2) and (3) relate intermolecular interactions to measurable solution thermodynamic properties. Several features of these two relations are worth noting. The first is the test-particle method, an implementation of the potential distribution theorem now widely used in molecular simulations (Frenkel and Smit, 1996). In the test-particle method, the excess chemical potential of a solute is evaluated by generating an ensemble of microscopic configurations for the solvent molecules alone. The solute is then superposed onto each configuration and the solute-solvent interaction potential energy calculated to give the probability distribution, Po(AU/kT), illustrated in Figure 3. The excess... 

A virtue of the potential distribution theorem approach is that it enables precise assessment of the differing consequences of intermolecular interactions of differing types. Here we use that feature to inquire into the role of electrostatic interactions in biomolecular hydration. 

With applications to protein solution thermodynamics in mind, we now present an alternative derivation of the potential distribution theorem. Consider a macroscopic solution consisting of the solute of interest and the solvent. We describe a macroscopic subsystem of this solution based on the grand canonical ensemble of statistical thermodynamics, accordingly specified by a temperature, a volume, and chemical potentials for all solution species including the solute of interest, which is identified with a subscript index 1. The average number of solute molecules in this subsystem is... 

We noted above that the potential distribution theorem benefits from the fact that only local information on solute—solvent interactions is needed for AU in Eq. (5). Here we develop that idea into the quasichemical description for local populations involved in Eq. (25) (Pratt and LaViolette, 1998 Pratt and Rempe, 1999 Hummer etal., 2000 Pratt et al., 2001). 

The theories of hydration we have developed herein are built upon the potential distribution theorem viewed as a local partition function. We also show how the quasi-chemical approximations can be used to evaluate this local partition function. Our approach suggests that effective descriptions of hydration are derived by defining a proximal... 

Nearly 10 years after Zwanzig published his perturbation method, Benjamin Widom [6] formulated the potential distribution theorem (PDF). He further suggested an elegant application of PDF to estimate the excess chemical potential -i.e., the chemical potential of a system in excess of that of an ideal, noninteracting system at the same density - on the basis of the random insertion of a test particle. In essence, the particle insertion method proposed by Widom may be viewed as a special case of the perturbative theory, in which the addition of a single particle is handled as a one-step perturbation of the liquid. 

Computing thermodynamic properties is the most important validation of simulations of solutions and biophysical materials. The potential distribution theorem (PDT) presents a partition function to be evaluated for the excess chemical potential of a molecular component which is part of a general thermodynamic system. The excess chemical potential of a component a is that part of the chemical potential of Gibbs which would vanish if the intermolecular interactions were to vanish. Therefore, it is just the part of that chemical potential that is interesting for consideration of a complex solution from a molecular basis. Since the excess chemical potential is measurable, it also serves the purpose of validating molecular simulations. 

In this chapter, we discuss, exemplify, and thus support the assertions that the potential distribution theorem provides ... 

Potential distribution methods are conventionally called test particle methods. Because the assertions above outline a general and basic position for the potential distribution theorem, it is appropriate that the discussion below states the potential... 

Background Notation and Discussion of the Potential Distribution Theorem... 

Here we establish notation that is integral to this topic in the course of discussion of basic features of the potential distribution theorem (PDT). 

The potential distribution theorem has been around for a long time [13-17], but not as long as the edifice of Gibbsian statistical mechanics where traditional partition functions were first encountered. We refer to other sources [10] for detailed derivations of this PDT, suitably general for the present purposes. 

Our point of view is that the evaluation of the partition function (9.5) can be done by using any available tool, specifically including computer simulation. If that computer simulation evaluated the mechanical pressure, or if it simulated a system under conditions of specified pressure, then /C,x would have been determined at a known value of p. With temperature, composition, and volume also known, (9.2) and (9.1) permit the construction of the full thermodynamic potential. This establishes our first assertion that the potential distribution theorem provides a basis for the general theory of solutions. 

Beck, T. L. Paulaitis, M. E. Pratt, L. R., The Potential Distribution Theorem and Models of Molecular Solutions, Cambridge University Press Cambridge, 2006... 

Most free energy and phase-equilibrium calculations by simulation up to the late 1980s were performed with the Widom test particle method [7]. The method is still appealing in its simplicity and generality - for example, it can be applied directly to MD calculations without disturbing the time evolution of a system. The potential distribution theorem on which the test particle method is based as well as its applications are discussed in Chap. 9. 

Beck, T. L. Marchioro, T. L., The quantum potential distribution theorem, in Path Integrals from meV to MeV Tutzing 1992, Grabert, H. Inomata, A. Schulman, L. Weiss, U., Eds., World Scientific Singapore, 1993, pp. 238-243... 

Here, we report some basic results that are necessary for further developments in this presentation. The merging process of a test particle is based on the concept of cavity function (first adopted to interpret the pair correlation function of a hard-sphere system [75]), and on the potential distribution theorem (PDT) used to determine the excess chemical potential of uniform and nonuniform fluids [73, 74]. The obtaining of the PDT is done with the test-particle method for nonuniform systems assuming that the presence of a test particle is equivalent to placing the fluid in an external field [36]. 

This relation is the potential distribution theorem [73, 74], which gives a physical interpretation of the cavity function in terms of the chemical potential, and the excess interaction generated by the test particle, Y j>2 u(rv)> yia the ensemble average of its Boltzmann factor. In numerical simulation, the use of such a test-particle insertion method is of prime importance in calculating the cavity function at small distances and particularly at zero separation. Note that if the particle labeled 1 approaches the particle labeled 2, a dumbbell particle [41] is created with a bond length L = r2 n corresponding to a dimer at infinite... 

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