Search results for "Biomolecules"
showing 10 items of 549 documents
A nanodosimetric model of radiation-induced clustered DNA damage yields
2010
International audience; We present a nanodosimetric model for predicting the yield of double strand breaks (DSBs) and non-DSB clustered damages induced in irradiated DNA. The model uses experimental ionization cluster size distributions measured in a gas model by an ion counting nanodosimeter or, alternatively, distributions simulated by a Monte Carlo track structure code developed to simulate the nanodosimeter. The model is based on a straightforward combinatorial approach translating ionizations, as measured or simulated in a sensitive gas volume, to lesions in a DNA segment of one-two helical turns considered equivalent to the sensitive volume of the nanodosimeter. The two model paramete…
A theoretical study of solvent effects on the conformational equilibria of neutral glycine in aqueous solution
2003
Abstract In this work conformational equilibrium of neutral glycine in solution is systematically investigated by using DFT and MP2 methods combined with solvent continuum models. A systematic exploration of the potential energy surface and full geometry optimizations for several conformers have been carried out in the gas phase and aqueous solution at the MP2/6-31+G** and B3LYP/6-31+G** levels. Zero-point and thermal contributions to the free energy have been obtained at the B3LYP level. Both theoretical levels lead to very similar results, in geometrical and energetic terms, both in the gas phase and in solution. Solvent effects play an important role on the conformational equilibria of n…
Amino Acid Chemistry in Solution: Structural Study and Vibrational Dynamics of Glutamine in Solution. An ab Initio Reaction Field Model
1998
The self-consistent reaction field (SCRF) theory was used to study structural and vibrational features of the amino acid L-glutamine in solution. Raman and infrared spectra of this molecule in solutions of H 2O and D2O were recorded and measured. The bands were firstly assigned on the basis of the isotopic shifts. An ab initio quadratic force field at the 6-31 +G* level was achieved. The calculation simulated a polar solvent by placing the molecule in an ellipsoidal cavity surrounded by a continuum dielectric. The theoretical results, in terms of structural parameters, vibrational frequencies and descriptions, and infrared intensities, were in satisfactory agreement with the experimental da…
Internal Rotation in Propionic Acid: Near-Infrared-Induced Isomerization in Solid Argon
2005
The conformational system of propionic acid (CH3CH2COOH) is studied in solid argon. It is predicted by the ab initio calculations that this molecule has four stable conformers. These four structures are denoted Tt, Tg+/-, Ct, and Cg+/-, and they differ by the arrangement around the C-O and Calpha-C bonds. The ground-state Tt conformer is the only form present at 8 K after deposition of an argon matrix containing propionic acid. For the CH3CH2COOH and CH3CH2COOD isotopologues, narrow-band excitation of the first hydroxyl stretching overtone of the conformational ground state promotes the Calpha-C and C-O internal rotations producing the Tg+/- and Ct conformers, respectively. A subsequent vib…
Local dynamics of DNA probed with optical absorption spectroscopy of bound ethidium bromide
1997
We have studied the local dynamics of calf thymus double-helical DNA by means of an "optical labeling" technique. The study has been performed by measuring the visible absorption band of the cationic dye ethidium bromide, both free in solution and bound to DNA, in the temperature interval 360-30 K and in two different solvent conditions. The temperature dependence of the absorption line shape has been analyzed within the framework of the vibronic coupling theory, to extract information on the dynamic properties of the system; comparison of the thermal behavior of the absorption band of free and DNA-bound ethidium bromide gave information on the local dynamics of the double helix in the prox…
Homology modeling of an RNP domain from a human RNA-binding protein: Homology-constrained energy optimization provides a criterion for distinguishing…
1998
We have recently described an automated approach for homology modeling using restrained molecular dynamics and simulated annealing procedures (Li et al, Protein Sci., 6:956-970,1997). We have employed this approach for constructing a homology model of the putative RNA-binding domain of the human RNA-binding protein with multiple splice sites (RBP-MS). The regions of RBP-MS which are homologous to the template protein snRNP U1A were constrained by "homology distance constraints," while the conformation of the non-homologous regions were defined only by a potential energy function. A full energy function without explicit solvent was employed to ensure that the calculated structures have good …
Interacting induced dipoles polarization model for molecular polarizabilities: application to benzothiazole (A)-benzobisthiazole (B) oligomers AB13A
1998
Abstract We have outlined a method for the calculation of atomic net charges and molecular dipole-dipole, α , dipole-quadrupole, A , and quadrupole-quadrupole, C , polarizabilities which we have successfully applied to benzothiazole (A)-benzobisthiazole (B) oligomers in the series AB1A to AB13A, and the results have been extrapolated to give predictions for polybenzobisthiazole. The calculation of α , A and C has been carried out by the interacting induced dipoles polarization model that calculates tensor effective anisotropic point polarizabilities (method of Applequist). The mean effective atomic αeffpolarizabilities for the monomeric unit are of the same order of magnitud…
Protonation-induced fluorescence modulation of carbazole-based emitters
2022
The development of purely organic fluorescence emitters is of great importance for their low cost and high performance. Responding to this demand, carbazole is a promising emitter due to its extensive freedom for functionalisation, high thermal and chemical stability, as well as low cost. Herein, the effect of protonation on the fluorescence of various pyridine-functionalised carbazole-based bipolar host materials was studied both in solution and in the solid-state. The restriction of intramolecular rotation of the molecules upon protonation of the pyridyl-moiety together with easier planarization of the protonated acceptor and the donor moieties and relocalisation of the LUMO orbital on th…
Amino acid chemistry in solution: structural properties and vibrational dynamics of serine using density functional theory and a continuum solvent mo…
2004
A structural and vibrational study of amino acid serine in aqueous solution has been carried out using Fourier transform spectroscopies and quantum mechanical calculations. FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of serine in H2O and D2O solutions were recorded and a general assignment of the observed bands was proposed on the basis of a zwitterionic structure for serine. Main criteria were the observed wavenumber shifts upon deuteration and previous assignments for other amino acids. A quadratic force field was computed using ab initio methodology at the 6-31+G** level and the hybrid functional B3LYP. The solvent effect was simulated by placing the serine molecule into an ellipsoidal cavity surrounded …
Transition structures for hydride transfer reactions in vacuo and their role in enzyme catalysis
1996
A general discussion as to the role of in vacuo transition structure in enzyme catalysis is presented. Quantum mechanical aspects are emphasized. The transition structures defined as saddle points ...