Exploring Molecular Energy Landscapes by Coupling the DFTB Potential with a Tree-Based Stochastic Algorithm: Investigation of the Conformational Diversity of Phthalates - Surfaces, Interfaces et Nano-Objets Access content directly
Journal Articles Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling Year : 2024

Exploring Molecular Energy Landscapes by Coupling the DFTB Potential with a Tree-Based Stochastic Algorithm: Investigation of the Conformational Diversity of Phthalates

Abstract

Exploring the global energy landscape of relatively large molecules at the quantum level is a challenging problem. In this work, we report the coupling of a nonredundant conformational space exploration method, namely, the robotics-inspired iterative global exploration and local optimization (IGLOO) algorithm, with the quantum-chemical density functional tight binding (DFTB) potential. The application of this fast and efficient computational approach to three close-sized molecules of the phthalate family (DBP, BBP, and DEHP) showed that they present different conformational landscapes. These differences have been rationalized by making use of descriptors based on distances and dihedral angles. Coulomb interactions, steric hindrance, and dispersive interactions have been found to drive the geometric properties. A strong correlation has been evidenced between the two dihedral angles describing the side-chain orientation of the phthalate molecules. Our approach identifies low-energy minima without prior knowledge of the potential energy surface, paving the way for future investigations into transition paths and states.
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Sunday, September 22, 2024
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Sunday, September 22, 2024
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hal-04517230 , version 1 (22-03-2024)

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Valentin Milia, Nathalie Tarrat, Christophe Zanon, Juan Cortés, Mathias Rapacioli. Exploring Molecular Energy Landscapes by Coupling the DFTB Potential with a Tree-Based Stochastic Algorithm: Investigation of the Conformational Diversity of Phthalates. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 2024, 64 (8), pp.3290-3301. ⟨10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01981⟩. ⟨hal-04517230⟩
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