The #LatinxChem Twitter Poster Contest
For the past few weeks, some chemists of the worldwide Latinx community have been cooking an online project devoted to showcase the important contributions to chemistry made by workers, students, and researchers from Latinamerican origin.
The result is the #LatinXChem Twitter Poster Contest which will take place 7th September during a 24 hour span and the corresponding Twitter account @latinxchem (go follow it now! I’ll wait right here.)
All chemists from Latinx origin are called to participate by registering their posters in our website latinxchem.org before August 25th. Upon registration, each poster should be classified into one of the eleven categories available and use the corresponding hashtag during the event (e.g. #LatinxchemTheo for the readers of this blog), in which prominent Latinx chemist will serve as reviewers and cast their votes for the best one in each category. Some prizes will be available, thanks to our kind sponsors (RSC, Chemical Science, ACS, Carbomex, The Brazilian Chemical Society, and more to come), but just for those registered works; if anyone wishes to present a poster without being registered at the website they can do so but eligibility for prizes remain for those who complete the register. Official languages for the poster are Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
Each category is organized by young prominent Latinx chemists; for the particular case of Computational Chemistry –the recurring theme of this blog– Prof. Fernanda Duarte (@fjduarteg) from Chile now working at Oxford University in the UK and yours truly (@joaquinbarroso) will be in charge of the #LatinXChemTheo section. Please check the website to learn about the other sections and the wonderful people working hard in the organizing committee (see below for the full list of the organizers and their Twitter handles).
The main goal of the event is to celebrate and showcase the espectacular research, education, and innovation brought to chemistry by a large and vibrant community dispersed throughout the globe of Latinx identification. We want to celebrate diversity by showcasing our contributions in the context of a global science interconnected with people from other groups.
So please visit our website, help us spread the word and get those posters ready, we’re eager to read, comment, Tweet and Retweet your work and show the world the drive and passion of Latinxs for chemistry, knowledge, and the betterment of the world through science.
Go follow us all and of course @LatinXchem too!
¡Gracias! Obrigado! Thank you!
Gabriel Merino Cinvestav Mérida, México @theochemmerida
Miguel A. Méndez-Rojas UDLAP, México @nanoprofe
Joaquín Barroso UNAM, México @joaquinbarroso
Javier Vela Iowa State University, USA @vela_group
Diego Solís-Ibarra UNAM, México @piketin
Braulio Rodríguez-Molina UNAM, México @MolinaGroup
Paula X. García-Reynaldos Science Communicator, México @paux_gr
Liliana Quintanar Cinvestav Zacatenco, México @lilquintanar
María Gallardo-Williams North Carolina State University, USA @Teachforaliving
Fernanda Duarte University of Oxford, UK @fjduarteg
Yadira Vega Tec de Monterrey, México @yivega
Gabriel Gomes University of Toronto, Canadá @gpassosgomes
Luciana Oliveira UNICAMP, Brasil @LuBruGonzaga
Cesar A. Urbina-Blanco Ghent University, Belgium @cesapo
Ariane Nunes HITS, Germany @anunesalves
Walter Waldman Brazil, @waldmanlab
I Want You!
The admission process for graduate studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is about to begin and I have wide open spaces in my lab for people interested in getting a PhD in the field of applied computational chemistry. Since admissions are managed by the Graduate Studies Program, please address all your inquiries to them instead of contacting me directly, at least for the time being (you may mention you learned about the calling on this blog.) Online registration to the admission test will take place from June 1 to 12.
This call applies to Mexican and foreign students alike but foreigners should be aware that the scholarships/stipends are awarded –mostly– by the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT), not by PIs themselves. Also, should be aware that the admission test will take place until February 2021 (but the registration should take place during the upcoming dates) at your corresponding Mexican Embassy or Consulate.
Click here for more information regarding dates and required documents (in Spanish but easily translatable).
Natural Transition Orbitals (NTOs) Gaussian
The canonical molecular orbital depiction of an electronic transition is often a messy business in terms of a ‘chemical‘ interpretation of ‘which electrons‘ go from ‘which occupied orbitals‘ to ‘which virtual orbitals‘.
Natural Transition Orbitals provide a more intuitive picture of the orbitals, whether mixed or not, involved in any hole-particle excitation. This transformation is particularly useful when working with the excited states of molecules with extensively delocalized chromophores or multiple chromophoric sites. The elegance of the NTO method relies on its simplicity: separate unitary transformations are performed on the occupied and on the virtual set of orbitals in order to get a localized picture of the transition density matrix.
[1] R. L. Martin, J. Chem. Phys., 2003, DOI:10.1063/1.1558471.
In Gaussian09:
After running a TD-DFT calculation with the keyword TD(Nstates=n) (where n = number of states to be requested) we need to take that result and launch a new calculation for the NTOs but lets take it one step at a time. As an example here’s phenylalanine which was already optimized to a minimum at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory. If we take that geometry and launch a new calculation with the TD(Nstates=40) in the route section we obtain the UV-Vis spectra and the output looks like this (only the first three states are shown):
Excitation energies and oscillator strengths: Excited State 1: Singlet-A 5.3875 eV 230.13 nm f=0.0015 <S**2>=0.000 42 -> 46 0.17123 42 -> 47 0.12277 43 -> 46 -0.40383 44 -> 45 0.50838 44 -> 47 0.11008 This state for optimization and/or second-order correction. Total Energy, E(TD-HF/TD-KS) = -554.614073682 Copying the excited state density for this state as the 1-particle RhoCI density. Excited State 2: Singlet-A 5.5137 eV 224.86 nm f=0.0138 <S**2>=0.000 41 -> 45 -0.20800 41 -> 47 0.24015 42 -> 45 0.32656 42 -> 46 0.10906 42 -> 47 -0.24401 43 -> 45 0.20598 43 -> 47 -0.14839 44 -> 45 -0.15344 44 -> 47 0.34182 Excited State 3: Singlet-A 5.9254 eV 209.24 nm f=0.0042 <S**2>=0.000 41 -> 45 0.11844 41 -> 47 -0.12539 42 -> 45 -0.10401 42 -> 47 0.16068 43 -> 45 -0.27532 43 -> 46 -0.11640 43 -> 47 0.16780 44 -> 45 -0.18555 44 -> 46 -0.29184 44 -> 47 0.43124
The oscillator strength is listed on each Excited State as “f” and it is a measure of the probability of that excitation to occur. If we look at the third one for this phenylalanine we see f=0.0042, a very low probability, but aside from that the following list shows what orbital transitions compose that excitation and with what energy, so the first line indicates a transition from orbital 41 (HOMO-3) to orbital 45 (LUMO); there are 10 such transitions composing that excitation, visualizing them all with canonical orbitals is not an intuitive picture, so lets try the NTO approach, we’re going to take excitation #10 for phenylalanine as an example just because it has a higher oscillation strength:
%chk=Excited State 10: Singlet-A 7.1048 eV 174.51 nm f=0.3651 <S**2>=0.000 41 -> 45 0.35347 41 -> 47 0.34685 42 -> 45 0.10215 42 -> 46 0.17248 42 -> 47 0.13523 43 -> 45 -0.26596 43 -> 47 -0.22995 44 -> 46 0.23277
Each set of NTOs for each transition must be calculated separately. First, copy you filename.chk file from the TD-DFT result to a new one and name it after the Nth state of interest as shown below (state 10 in this case). NOTE: In the route section, replace N with the number of the excitation of interest according to the results in filename.log. Run separately for each transition your interested in:
#chk=state10.chk #p B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) Geom=AllCheck Guess=(Read,Only) Density=(Check,Transition=N) Pop=(Minimal,NTO,SaveNTO) 0 1 --blank line--
By requesting SaveNTO, the canonical orbitals in the state10.chk file are replaced with the NTOs for the 10th excitation, this makes it easier to plot since most visualizers just plot whatever set of orbitals they read in the chk file but if they find the canonical MOs then one would need to do some re-processing of them. This is much more straightforward.
Now we format our chk files into fchk with the formchk utility:
formchk -3 filename.chk filename.fchk
formchk -3 state10.chk state10.fchk
If we open filename.fchk (the file where the original TD-DFT calculation is located) with GaussView we can plot all orbitals involved in excited state number ten, those would be seven orbitals from 41 (HOMO-3) to 47 (LUMO+2) as shown in figure 1.
If we now open state10.fchk we see that the numbers at the side of the orbitals are not their energy but their occupation number particular to this state of interest, so we only need to plot those with highest occupations, in our example those are orbitals 44 and 45 (HOMO and LUMO) which have occupations = 0.81186; you may include 43 and 46 (HOMO-1 and LUMO+1, respectively) for a much more complete description (occupations = 0.18223) but we’re still dealing with 4 orbitals instead of 7.
The NTO transition 44 -> 45 is far easier to conceptualize than all the 10 combinations given in the canonical basis from the direct TD-DFT calculation. TD-DFT provides us with the correct transitions, NTOs just paint us a picture more readily available to the chemist mindset.
NOTE: for G09 revC and above, the %OldChk option is available, I haven’t personally tried it but using it to specify where the excitations are located and then write the NTOs of interest into a new chk file in the following way, thus eliminating the need of copying the original chk file for each state:
%OldChk=filename.chk
%chk=stateN.chk
NTOs are based on the Natural Hybrid orbitals vision by Löwdin and others, and it is said to be so straightforward that it has been re-discovered from time to time. Be that as it may, the NTO visualization provides a much clearer vision of the excitations occurring during a TD calculation.
Thanks for reading, stay home and stay safe during these harsh days everyone. Please share, rate and comment this and other posts.
DFT Estimation of pKb Values – New Paper in JCIM
As a continuation of our previous work on estimating pKa values from DFT calculations for carboxylic acids, we now present the complementary pKb values for amino groups by the same method, and the coupling of both methodologies for predicting the isoelectric point -pI- values of amino acids as a proof of concept.
Analogously to our work on pKa, we now used the Minimum Surface Electrostatic Potentia, VS,min, as a descriptor of the availability of Nitrogen’s lone pair and correlated it with the experimental basicity of a large number of amines, separated into three groups: primary, secondary and tertiary amines.
Interestingly, the correlation coefficient between experimental and calculated pKb values decreases in the following order: primary (R2 = 0.9519) > secondary (R2 = 0.9112) > tertiary (R2 = 0.8172). This could be due to steric effects, the change in s-character of the lone pair or just plain old selection bias. Nevertheless, there is a good correlation between both values and the resulting equations can predict the pKb value of an amino group within less of a unit, which is very good for a statistical method that does not require the calculation of a full thermodynamic cycle.
We then took thirteen amino acids (those without titratable side chains) and calculated simultaneously VS,min and VS,max for the amino and the carboxyl group (this latter with the use of equation 2 from our previous work published in Molecules MDPI) and the arithmetical average of both gave us their corresponding pI values with an agreement of less than one unit.
This work is now available at the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling (DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.9b01173); as always a shoutout is due to the people working on it: Leonardo “Leo” Lugo, Gustavo “Gus” Mondragón and leading the charge Dr. Jacinto Sandoval-Lira.
A New Gradúate Student. Raúl Márquez
We’re always happy at the lab when a student defends their dissertation thesis and now it was the turn of Raúl Márquez-Avilés to do so with flying colors.
The title of his dissertation is “Molecular Dynamics Simulations of 5 potential entry inhibitors for HIV-1“. He performed 500 ns long molecular dynamics simulations of the CD4 – gp 120 proteins interacting with one or several molecules of various lead compounds with inhibitory properties. The leads were obtained previously in our group (by Durbis Castillo, now at McGill) from a massive docking library of ca. 16 million compounds, all having a central piperazine core (Fig1)
The protein gp120 is a surface glyco-protein located at the surface of the HIV virus which couples to the CD4 protein on lymphocytes-T, being this the first step in the infection process of a healthy cell; generating inhibitors of this coupling could help stop the infection from spreading systemically. Four systems were devised: (SB) The reference state for which only gp-120 and CD4 were considered, (S2) A single ligand molecule was placed in the Phe43 cavity of gp120 to assess their inhibitory capacity, (S3) the ligand was placed right outside the Phe43 cavity to assess their entry capacity, and (S4) five ligand molecules were placed outside the Phe43 cavity of gp120 to force their entry (Fig2). Their binding energies were calculated using MM-PBSA and although all five ligands show statistically similar results as inhibitors all five exhibit a stronger binding energy than the reference proving their efficacy in preventing the coupling of the virus to the healthy cell. As a bonus, his research on system S4 shed light on the existence of an allosteric site on gp120 that will warrant further research in our group.
This work is still pending publication.
Raúl Márquez has always proven to be a hard working person who is also very self-sufficient student, a very cheerful labmate, and, as I just learned yesterday, an avid chess player. I’m sure he has a bright future in whichever endeavor he chooses now. Congratulations Raúl Márquez-Avilés!
Locked out of your Linux Session
Funny enough I was unable to log into my Linux (Ubuntu) session and I realized this might be a more common problem that it seemed. So, if you keep getting redirected to the login screen after typing your correct password over and over (and over and over), there’s no need to panic.
This usually has to do with the .Xauthority file, so from the login page press Ctrl+Alt+F1 which will bring you to the command line where you can login with your usual credentials. Once logged in, search for the .Xauthority file and check that it is owned by you and not the root
ls -l ~/.Xauthority
-rw------ 1 root root 1 feb 11 13:13 /home/joaquin/.Xauthority
Use the following command to change ownership
chown group:username ~/.Xauthority
in my case both group and username are joaquin. You may need to ‘sudo’ it. If that doesn’t work try deleting the file altogether, upon login it will be created again.
rm -rf ~/.Xauthority
In any case, if any of these solutions worked, press Ctrl+Alt+F7 to go back to the login screen and now you should be able to get in.
These solutions are quite straightfoward but if the problem persist you may need to update the system or downright install it again from the command line we opened at the begining.
Good Luck to Dr. Jacinto Sandoval
We’re sad to begin this year by saying farewell to Dr. Jacinto Sandoval-Lira who held a postdoc position in our lab for two years with a DGAPA – UNAM scholarship, a very competitive and highly sought-after position here in Mexico. Dr. Sandoval will now relocate to the Technological Institute of San Martín Texmelucan in Puebla, Mexico, whose students will be fortunate to have him as a tutor and a teacher of chemistry in the environmental engineering department.
During the past two years we’ve worked together in various projects, mainly the excitonic transference between photosynthetic pigments but also in calculating reaction mechanisms and solving chemical equilibria problems with various computational approaches, but apart from the research Dr. Sandoval was also a co-organizer of the past Meeting on Physical Chemistry, organized a local course on the use of Dens Tool Kit (DTK), as well as our weekly lab seminars and taught various graduate and undergraduate courses on molecular modeling, chemoinformatics and computational chemistry, not too mention all the collaborations he has brought to our lab in the field of organic chemistry of which I regard him as an expert. He really has been a force of nature!
Aside from a brilliant scientist and a hard working one, Jacinto is an exceptional human being and a great friend. His attention to detail, his drive, and his willingness to help others reach their full potential make him an ideal colleague and an ideal professor. I don’t wish you luck, Jacinto, you don’t need it: I wish you success!
The International Year of the Periodic Table #IYPT2019 and the Tie that Binds
This time I try delivering a personal video post to close this #IYPT2019 celebrations. I hope you find it interesting.
I invite you all to always imitate molecules and react!
XVIII RMFQT
It was my distinct pleasure for me to participate in the organization of the latest edition of the Mexican Meeting on Theoretical Physical Chemistry, RMFQT which took place last week here in Toluca. With the help of the School of Chemistry from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México.
This year the national committee created a Lifetime Achievement Award for Dr. Annik Vivier, Dr. Carlos Bunge, and Dr. José Luis Gázquez. This recognition from our community is awarded to these fine scientists for their contributions to theoretical chemistry but also for their pioneering work in the field in Mexico. The three of them were invited to talk about any topic of their choosing, particularly, Dr. Vivier stirred the imagination of younger students by showing her pictures of the times when she used to hangout with Slater, Roothan, Löwdin, etc., it is always nice to put faces onto equations.
Continuing with a recent tradition we also had the pleasure to host three invited plenary lectures by great scientists and good friends of our community: Prof. William Tiznado (Chile), Prof. Samuel B. Trickey (USA), and Prof. Julia Contreras (France) who shared their progress on their recent work.
As I’ve abundantly pointed out in the past, the RMFQT is a joyous occasion for the Mexican theoretical community to get together with old friends and discuss very exciting research being done in our country and by our colleagues abroad. I’d like to add a big shoutout to Dr. Jacinto Sandoval-Lira for his valuable help with the organization of our event.
Non-canonical Base Pairs show Watson-Crick pairing in MD simulations
Elucidating the pairing of non-hydrogen bonded unnatural base pairs (UBPs) is still a controversial subject due to the lack of specificity in their mutual interactions. Experimentally, NMR is the method of choice but the DNA strand must be affixed on template of sorts such as a polymerase protein. Those discrepancies are well documented in a recent review which cites our previous computational work, both DFT and MD, on UBPs.
Since that last paper of ours on synthetic DNA, my good friend Dr. Rodrigo Galindo from Utah U. and I have had serious doubts on the real pairing fashion exhibited by Romesberg’s famous hydrophobic nucleotides d5SICS – dNaM. While the authors claim a stacked pairing (within the context of the strand in the KlenTaq polymerase enzime), our simulations showed a Watson-Crick-like pairing was favored in the native form. To further shed light on the matter we performed converged micro-seconds long simulations, varying the force field (two recent AMBER fields were explored: Bsc1 and OL15), the water model (TIP3P and OPC), and the ionic compensation scheme (Na+/Cl– or Mg2+/Cl–).
In the image below it can be observed how the pairing is consistently WC (dC1′-C1′ ~10.4 A) in the most populated clusters regardless of the force field.
Also, a flipping experiment was performed where both nucleotides were placed 180.0° outwards and the system was left to converge inwards to explore a ‘de novo’ pairing guided solely by their mutual interactions and the template formed by the rest of the strand. Distance population for C1′ – C1′ were 10.4 A for Bsc1 (regardless of ionic compensation) and 9.8 A for OL15 (10.4 A where Mg2+ was used as charge compensation).
This study is now published in the Journal of Biomolecular Structure & Dynamics doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2019.1671898.
Despite the successful rate of replication by a living organism -which is a fantastic feat!- of these two nucleotides, there is little chance they can be used for real coding applications (biological or otherwise) due to the lack of structural control of the double helix. The work of Romesberg is impressive, make no mistake about it, but my money isn’t on hydrophobic unnatural nucleotides for information applications 🙂
All credit and glory is due to the amazing Dr. Rodrigo Galindo-Murillo from the University of Utah were he works as a developer for the AMBER code among many other things. Go check his impressive record!
