A First Principles Molecular Dynamics Study Of Calcium Ion In Water
In this work we report on Car-Parrinello simulations of the divalent calcium ion in water, aimed at understanding the structure of the hydration shell and at comparing theoretical results with a series of recent experiments. Our paper shows some of the progress in the investigation of aqueous solutions brought about by the advent of ab initio molecular dynamics and highlights the importance of accessing subtle details of ion-water interactions from first-principles. Calcium plays a vital role in many biological systems, including signal transduction, blood clotting and cell division. In particular, calcium ions are known to interact strongly with proteins as they tend to bind well to both negatively charged (e.g. in aspartate and glutamate) and uncharged oxygens (e.g. in main-chain carbonyls). The ability of calcium to coordinate multiple ligands (from 6 to 8 oxygen atoms) with an asymmetric coordination shell enables it to cross-link different segments of a protein and induce large conformational changes. The great biochemical importance of the calcium ion has led to a number of studies to determine its hydration shell and its preferred coordination number in water. Experimental studies have used a variety of techniques, including XRD, EXAFS, and neutron diffraction to elucidate the coordination of Ca{sup 2+} in water. The range of coordination numbers (n{sub C}) inferred by X-ray diffraction studies varies from 6 to 8, and is consistent with that reported in EXAFS experiments (8 and 7.2). A wider range of values (6 to 10) was found in early neutron diffraction studies, depending on concentration, while a more recent measurement by Badyal, et al. reports a value close to 7. In addition to experimental measurements, many theoretical studies have been carried out to investigate the solvation of Ca{sup 2+} in water and have also reported a wide range of coordination numbers. Most of the classical molecular dynamics (MD) and QM/MM simulations report n{sub C} in the range of 8 to 10; in general, n{sub C} appears to be highly sensitive to the choice of the ion-water potential used in the calculations. Even ab initio MD simulations have so far obtained conflicting values for n{sub C}. For the structure of the first salvation shell Naor, et al. found n{sub C} = 7 to 8 and a Ca{sup 2+} - oxygen average distance (r{sub Ca-O}) of 2.64 {angstrom}, while Bako, et al. found n{sub C} = 6 and r{sub Ca-O} = 2.45 {angstrom}. In view of the existing controversies, we have carried out extensive Car-Parrinello simulations of Ca{sup 2+} solvation in water, using both a rigid and a flexible water model, up to time scales of 40 ps. Our simulations show variations of coordination numbers from 6, 7 and 8 occurring over intervals of {approx} 0.3/0.4 exchanges/ps, and yielding average coordination numbers of 6.2 and 7 for flexible and rigid water models, respectively. These results are consistent with those reported in recent EXAFS and neutron diffraction experiments. In addition, our calculations show an asymmetric coordination of Ca{sup 2+} to oxygen, similar to the case of Mg{sup 2+}.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 950079
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JRNL-209868; CPCHFT; TRN: US0901960
- Journal Information:
- ChemPhysChem, Vol. 6, Issue 9; ISSN 1439-4235
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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