Molecular Mechanics Parameterization of Anesthetic Molecules

Anesthetic drug molecules are being increasingly studied through the use of computational methods such as molecular dynamics (MD). Molecular mechanics force fields require the investigator to supply parameters for the force field equation, which are not available for novel molecules. Careful selection of these parameters is critical for simulations to produce meaningful results. Therefore, this chapter presents a state-of-the-art method for determining these parameters by comparison to quantum mechanics calculations and experimental quantities. Ketamine is used as an example to demonstrate the process.