Efficient evaluation of the effective dielectric function of a macromolecule in aqueous solution
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Surface Properties of Synthesized Nanoporous Carbon and Silica Matrices
Published on: March 27, 2019
Urs Haberthür1, Nicolas Majeux, Philipp Werner
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
Abstract:
We propose an analytical approach to calculate the effective dielectric function of proteins in aqueous solution. The screening effect if quantified by a measure of enclosure which is based on the distribution of solute atomic volumes around a pair of charges in a macromolecule. For protein conformations that vary significantly in size and shape, a comparison with finite difference Poisson calculations shows that pair interaction energies, their sums and solvation energies are well reproduced. The approach rivals the speed of simple distance dependent dielectric functions and the accuracy of the generalized Born model.
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