Representation of the qm subsystem for long-range electrostatic interaction in non-periodic ab initio qm/mm calculations

Xiaoliang Pan, Edina Rosta, Yihan Shao*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)
149 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In QM/MM calculations, it is essential to handle electrostatic interactions between the QM and MM subsystems accurately and efficiently. To achieve maximal efficiency, it is convenient to adopt a hybrid scheme, where the QM electron density is used explicitly in the evaluation of short-range QM/MM electrostatic interactions, while a multipolar representation for the QM electron density is employed to account for the long-range QM/MM electrostatic interactions. In order to avoid energy discontinuity at the cutoffs, which separate the short- and long-range QM/MM electrostatic interactions, a switching function should be utilized to ensure a smooth potential energy surface. In this study, we benchmarked the accuracy of such hybrid embedding schemes for QM/MM electrostatic interactions using different multipolar representations, switching functions and cutoff distances. For test systems (neutral and anionic oxyluciferin in MM (aqueous and enzyme) environments), the best accuracy was acquired with a combination of QM electrostatic potential (ESP) charges and dipoles and two switching functions (long-range electrostatic corrections (LREC) and Switch) in the treatment of long-range QM/MM electrostatics. It allowed us to apply a 10Å distance cutoff and still obtain QM/MM electrostatics/polarization energies within 0.1 kcal/mol and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT)/MM vertical excitation energies within 10-3 eV from theoretical reference values.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2500
JournalMolecules
Volume23
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Sept 2018

Keywords

  • Electrostatics
  • Multipolar expansion
  • Multiscale modeling
  • QM/MM

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Representation of the qm subsystem for long-range electrostatic interaction in non-periodic ab initio qm/mm calculations'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this