scholarly journals Functional stability of water wire–carbonyl interactions in an ion channel

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (22) ◽  
pp. 11908-11915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana Paulino ◽  
Myunggi Yi ◽  
Ivan Hung ◽  
Zhehong Gan ◽  
Xiaoling Wang ◽  
...  

Water wires are critical for the functioning of many membrane proteins, as in channels that conduct water, protons, and other ions. Here, in liquid crystalline lipid bilayers under symmetric environmental conditions, the selective hydrogen bonding interactions between eight waters comprising a water wire and a subset of 26 carbonyl oxygens lining the antiparallel dimeric gramicidin A channel are characterized by17O NMR spectroscopy at 35.2 T (or 1,500 MHz for1H) and computational studies. While backbone15N spectra clearly indicate structural symmetry between the two subunits, single site17O labels of the pore-lining carbonyls report two resonances, implying a break in dimer symmetry caused by the selective interactions with the water wire. The17O shifts document selective water hydrogen bonding with carbonyl oxygens that are stable on the millisecond timescale. Such interactions are supported by density functional theory calculations on snapshots taken from molecular dynamics simulations. Water hydrogen bonding in the pore is restricted to just three simultaneous interactions, unlike bulk water environs. The stability of the water wire orientation and its electric dipole leads to opposite charge-dipole interactions for K+ions bound at the two ends of the pore, thereby providing a simple explanation for an ∼20-fold difference in K+affinity between two binding sites that are ∼24 Å apart. The17O NMR spectroscopy reported here represents a breakthrough in high field NMR technology that will have applications throughout molecular biophysics, because of the acute sensitivity of the17O nucleus to its chemical environment.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodosios Famprikis ◽  
James Dawson ◽  
François Fauth ◽  
Emmanuelle Suard ◽  
Benoit Fleutot ◽  
...  

<div> <p>Solid electrolytes are crucial for next‑generation solid‑state batteries and Na<sub>3</sub>PS<sub>4</sub> is one of the most promising Na<sup>+</sup> conductors for such applications. At present, two phases of Na<sub>3</sub>PS<sub>4</sub> have been identified and it had been thought to melt above 500 °C. In contrast, we show that it remains solid above this temperature and transforms into a third polymorph, γ, exhibiting superionic behavior. We propose an orthorhombic crystal structure for γ‑Na<sub>3</sub>PS<sub>4</sub> based on scattering density analysis of diffraction data and density functional theory calculations. We show that the Na<sup>+</sup> superionic behavior is associated with rotational motion of the thiophosphate polyanions pointing to a rotor phase, based on <i>ab initio</i> molecular dynamics simulations and supported by high‑temperature synchrotron and neutron diffraction, thermal analysis and impedance spectroscopy. These findings are of importance for the development of new polyanion‑based solid electrolytes.</p> </div>


Author(s):  
Lijuan Meng ◽  
Jinlian Lu ◽  
Yujie Bai ◽  
Lili Liu ◽  
Tang Jingyi ◽  
...  

Understanding the fundamentals of chemical vapor deposition bilayer graphene growth is crucial for its synthesis. By employing density functional theory calculations and classical molecular dynamics simulations, we have investigated the...


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 3763
Author(s):  
Poul Erik Hansen

This review outlines methods to investigate the structure of natural products with emphasis on intramolecular hydrogen bonding, tautomerism and ionic structures using NMR techniques. The focus is on 1H chemical shifts, isotope effects on chemical shifts and diffusion ordered spectroscopy. In addition, density functional theory calculations are performed to support NMR results. The review demonstrates how hydrogen bonding may lead to specific structures and how chemical equilibria, as well as tautomeric equilibria and ionic structures, can be detected. All these features are important for biological activity and a prerequisite for correct docking experiments and future use as drugs.


Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma ◽  
Zhong ◽  
Liu ◽  
Zhong ◽  
Yan ◽  
...  

Density functional theory calculations and molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the hydrogen storage capacity in the sII hydrate. Calculation results show that the optimum hydrogen storage capacity is ~5.6 wt%, with the double occupancy in the small cage and quintuple occupancy in the large cage. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that these multiple occupied hydrogen hydrates can occur at mild conditions, and their stability will be further enhanced by increasing the pressure or decreasing the temperature. Our work highlights that the hydrate is a promising material for storing hydrogen.


2005 ◽  
Vol 862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayur S. Valipa ◽  
Tamas Bakos ◽  
Eray S. Aydil ◽  
Dimitrios Maroudas

AbstractDevice-quality hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films grown under conditions where the SiH3 radical is the dominant deposition precursor are remarkably smooth, as the SiH3 radical is very mobile and fills surface valleys during its diffusion on the a-Si:H surface. In this paper, we analyze atomic-scale mechanisms of SiH3 diffusion on a-Si:H surfaces based on molecular-dynamics simulations of SiH3 radical impingement on surfaces of a-Si:H films. The computed average activation barrier for radical diffusion on a-Si:H is 0.16 eV. This low barrier is due to the weak adsorption of the radical onto the a-Si:H surface and its migration predominantly through overcoordination defects; this is consistent with our density functional theory calculations on crystalline Si surfaces. The diffusing SiH3 radical incorporates preferentially into valleys on the a-Si:H surface when it transfers an H atom and forms a Si-Si backbond, even in the absence of dangling bonds.


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