Search

This contribution describes a new implementation of a general hybrid approach with a modular structure (called COBRAMM: Computations at Bologna Relating Ab‐initio and Molecular Mechanic Methods) that is able to integrate some specialized programs and acts as a flexible computational environment, thus increasing the flexibility/efficiency of both QM, and MM, and QM/MM calculations. Specifically, QM/MM ground and excited states geometry optimizations, frequency calculations, conical intersection searches and adiabatic/non‐adiabatic molecular dynamics can be performed on a large molecular system, that can be split up to three different layers corresponding to different levels of accuracy.

This contribution describes a new implementation of a general hybrid approach with a modular structure (called COBRAMM: Computations in Bologna Relating Ab‐initio and Molecular Mechanics Methods) that is able to integrate some specialized softwares and acts as a flexible computational environment, thus increasing the flexibility/efficiency of both QM, and MM, and QM/MM calculations. Specifically, QM/MM ground and excited states geometry optimizations, frequency calculations, conical intersection searches and adiabatic/non‐adiabatic molecular dynamics can be performed on a large molecular system, that can be split up to three different layers corresponding to different levels of accuracy. Here we report, together with a description of the method and its implementation, some test examples on very different chemical problems, which span the wide and diversified area of chemistry (from ground to excited states topics) and show the flexibility, general applicability and accuracy of the presented hybrid approach in the modelling of complex molecular architectures.

The contribution to the spectral tuning of the main residues in the Rhodopsine protein is being evaluated by employing high level ab initio quantum chemistry tools and the new Reverse Finger Print (RFP) technique.

The advent of molecular medicine allowed identifying the malfunctioning of subcellular processes as the source of many diseases. Since then, drugs are not only discovered, but actually designed to fulfill a precise task. Modern computational techniques, based on molecular modeling, play a relevant role both in target identification and drug lead development. By flanking and integrating standard experimental techniques, modeling has proven itself as a powerful tool across the drug design process. The success of computational methods depends on a balance between cost (computation time) and accuracy. Thus, the integration of innovative theories and more powerful hardware architectures allows molecular modeling to be used as a reliable tool for rationalizing the results of experiments and accelerating the development of new drug design strategies. We present an overview of the most common quantum chemistry computational approaches, providing for each one a general theoretical introduction to highlight limitations and strong points. We then discuss recent developments in software and hardware resources, which have allowed state-of-the-art of computational quantum chemistry to be applied to drug development.

Some aspects of the catalytic mechanism of HCA have been investigated. Either a zinc-bound water or a zinc-bound hydroxide has been considered as a nucleophile attacking CO 2. No reaction path exists in the former case, while a transition state for the nucleophilic attack has been located in the latter (barrier of 7.6 kcal mol−1). This activation energy is determined by the breaking of the hydrogen-bond network that shields the zinc-bound hydroxide when the CO 2 molecule approaches the reaction center. No ambiguity exists about the mechanism for the internal rearrangement of the zinc–bicarbonate complex. The rotation pathway (Lindskog mechanism) proposed by many authors is too energy demanding since it causes the breaking of the hydrogen-bond network around the bicarbonate. The only possible rearrangement mechanism is a proton transfer (Lipscomb) that occurs in two steps (each step corresponding to a double proton transfer) and involves the Thr199 residue as a proton shuttle.