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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes
Published on: January 16, 2016
New estimators for calculating solvation entropy and enthalpy and comparative assessments of their accuracy and
Matthew A Wyczalkowski1, Andreas Vitalis, Rohit V Pappu
1Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Computational Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1097, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
Abstract:
We present two new methods for estimating the entropy and enthalpy decomposition of free energy calculations. These methods are based on temperature derivatives of the Bennett Acceptance Ratio and the Multistate Bennett Acceptance Ratio estimators, respectively. We test the accuracy of these new estimators using a simple one-dimensional model. A detailed assessment of their performance is reported by studying the solvation of N-methylacetamide. Finally, we quantify the free energies of solvation for 11 model compounds using the OPLS-AA force field and a variation of this force field. Thermodynamic decompositions of these calculated free energies are obtained to highlight the utility of these quantities for refining force field parameters by comparing computed free energies and their decompositions to their experimental counterparts.
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