No abstract

We show that the solvation free energy of a complex molecule such as a protein can be calculated using only four geometrical measures of the molecular structure and corresponding thermodynamical coefficients. We compare results from this morphometric approach to those obtained by an elaborate statistical-mechanical theory in liquid state physics for a large variety of different structures of protein G and find excellent agreement. Since the computational time is drastically reduced, the new approach provides a practical and efficient way for calculating the solvation free energy which can be employed when this quantity has to be calculated for a large number of structures, as in a simulation study of protein folding.

The molecular origin of the hydrophobic effect is investigated using the angle-dependent integral equation theory combined with the multipolar water model. The thermodynamic quantities of solvation (excess quantities) of a nonpolar solute are decomposed into the translational and orientational contributions. The translational contributions are substantially larger with the result that the temperature dependence of the solute solubility, for example, can well be reproduced by a model simple fluid where the particles interact through strongly attractive potential such as water and the particle size is as small as that of water. The thermodynamic quantities of solvation for carbon tetrachloride, whose molecular size is approximately 1.9 times larger than that of water, are roughly an order of magnitude smaller than those for water and extremely insensitive to the strength of solvent-solvent attractive interaction and the temperature. The orientational contributions to the solvation energy and entropy are further decomposed into the solute-water pair correlation terms and the solute-water-water triplet and higher-order correlation terms. It is argued that the formation of highly ordered structure arising from the enhanced hydrogen bonding does not occur in the vicinity of the solute. Our proposition is that the hydrophobic effect is ascribed to the interplay of the exceptionally small molecular size and the strongly attractive interaction of water, and not necessarily to its hydrogen-bonding properties.

The hydration free energy (HFE) of several proteins modeled using the all-atom force field is calculated by employing the three-dimensional reference interaction site model theory, a recently developed integral equation theory of molecular solvation. The HFE is decomposed into the energetic and entropic components under the isochoric condition. The former comprises the protein-water interaction energy and the water reorganization energy arising from the structural changes induced in water. Each component is further decomposed into the nonelectrostatic and electrostatic contributions. It is found that the HFE is governed by the nonelectrostatic hydration entropy and the electrostatic hydration energy. The nonelectrostatic hydration entropy is almost exclusively ascribed to the translational entropy loss of water upon the protein insertion. It asymptotically becomes proportional to the excluded volume (EV) for water molecules as the protein size increases. The hydration energy is determined by the protein-water interaction energy which is half compensated by the water reorganization energy. These energy terms are approximately proportional to the water-accessible surface area (ASA). The energetic and entropic contributions are balanced with each other and the HFE has no apparent linear relation with the EV and ASA.