The solvent effects on the low-lying absorption spectrum and on the (15)N chemical shielding of pyrimidine in water are calculated using the combined and sequential Monte Carlo simulation and quantum mechanical calculations. Special attention is devoted to the solute polarization. This is included by an iterative procedure previously developed where the solute is electrostatically equilibrated with the solvent. In addition, we verify the simple yet unexplored alternative of combining the polarizable continuum model (PCM) and the hybrid QM/MM method. We use PCM to obtain the average solute polarization and include this in the MM part of the sequential QM/MM methodology, PCM-MM/QM. These procedures are compared and further used in the discrete and the explicit solvent models. The use of the PCM polarization implemented in the MM part seems to generate a very good description of the average solute polarization leading to very good results for the n-π* excitation energy and the (15)N nuclear chemical shield of pyrimidine in aqueous environment. The best results obtained here using the solute pyrimidine surrounded by 28 explicit water molecules embedded in the electrostatic field of the remaining 472 molecules give the statistically converged values for the low lying n-π* absorption transition in water of 36 900 ± 100 (PCM polarization) and 36 950 ± 100 cm(-1) (iterative polarization), in excellent agreement among one another and with the experimental value observed with a band maximum at 36 900 cm(-1). For the nuclear shielding (15)N the corresponding gas-water chemical shift obtained using the solute pyrimidine surrounded by 9 explicit water molecules embedded in the electrostatic field of the remaining 491 molecules give the statistically converged values of 24.4 ± 0.8 and 28.5 ± 0.8 ppm, compared with the inferred experimental value of 19 ± 2 ppm. Considering the simplicity of the PCM over the iterative polarization this is an important aspect and the computational savings point to the possibility of dealing with larger solute molecules. This PCM-MM/QM approach reconciles the simplicity of the PCM model with the reliability of the combined QM/MM approaches.

GABA B is a G protein-coupled receptor that functions as a constitutive heterodimer composed of the GABA B1a/b and GABA B2 subunits. It mediates slow and prolonged inhibitory neurotransmission in the nervous system, representing an attractive target for the treatment of various disorders. However, the molecular mechanism of the GABA B receptor is not thoroughly understood. Therefore, a better description of the binding of existing agonists and antagonists to this receptor is crucial to improve our knowledge about G protein-coupled receptor structure as well as for helping the development of new potent and more selective therapeutic agents. In this work, we used the recent X-ray cocrystallization data of agonists (GABA and baclofen) and antagonists (2-hydroxysaclofen, SCH50911, and CGP54626) bound to the GABA B orthosteric site together with quantum biochemistry and the molecular fractionation with conjugate caps (MFCC) scheme to describe the individual contribution of each amino acid residue involved in the GABA B −ligand interaction, pointing out differences and similarities among the compounds. Our quantum biochemical computational results show that the total binding energy of the ligands to the GABA B ligand pocket, with radius varying from 2.0 to 9.0 Å, is well-correlated with the experimental binding affinity. In addition, we found that the binding site is very similar for agonists or antagonists, showing small differences in the importance of the most significant amino acids. Finally, we predict the energetic relevance of the regions of the five ligands as well as the influence of each protein lobe on GABA B −ligand binding. These results provide important new information on the binding mechanism of the GABA B receptor and should facilitate the development of new chemicals targeting this receptor.

A combination of the polarizable continuum model (PCM) and the hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methodology, PCM-MM/QM, is used to include the solute electronic polarization and then study the solvent effects on the low-lying n→π(∗) excitation energy and the (15)N nuclear magnetic shielding of pyrazine and pyridazine in aqueous environment. The results obtained with PCM-MM/QM are compared with two other procedures, i.e., the conventional PCM and the iterative and sequential QM/MM (I-QM/MM). The QM calculations are made using density functional theory in the three procedures. For the excitation energies, the time-dependent B3LYP/6-311+G(d) model is used. For the magnetic shielding, the B3LYP/aug-pcS2(N)/pcS2(C,O,H) is used with the gauge-including atomic orbitals. In both cases, i.e., PCM-MM/QM and I-QM/MM, that use a discrete model of the solvent, the solute is surrounded by a first shell of explicit water molecules embedded by an electrostatic field of point charges for the outer shells. The best results are obtained including 28 explicit water molecules for the spectral calculations and 9 explicit water molecules for the magnetic shielding. Using the PCM-MM/QM methodology the results for the n→π(∗) excitation energies of pyridazine and pyrazine are 32,070 ± 80 cm(-1) and 32,675 ± 60 cm(-1), respectively, in good agreement with the corresponding I-MM/QM results of 32,540 ± 80 cm(-1) and 32,710 ± 60 cm(-1) and the experimental results of 33,450-33,580 cm(-1) and 32,700-33,300 cm(-1). For the (15)N magnetic shielding, the corresponding numbers for the gas-water shifts obtained with PCM-MM/QM are 47.4 ± 1.3 ppm for pyridazine and 19.7 ± 1.1 ppm for pyrazine, compared with the I-QM/MM values of 53.4 ± 1.3 ppm and 19.5 ± 1.2 ppm and the experimental results of 42-54 ppm and 17-22 ppm, respectively. The agreement between the two procedures is found to be very good and both are in agreement with the experimental values. PCM-MM/QM approach gives a good solute polarization and could be considered in obtaining reliable results within the expected QM/MM accuracy. With this electronic polarization, the solvent effects on the electronic absorption spectra and the (15)N magnetic shielding of the diazines in water are well described by using only an electrostatic approximation. Finally, it is remarked that the experimental and theoretical results suggest that the (15)N nuclear magnetic shielding of any diazine has a clear dependence with the solvent polarity but not directly with the solute-solvent hydrogen bonds.

We present the electronic structure of the complex dihydroergotamine–serotonin receptor to unveil new medications to treat migraine and related diseases.

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