Ab initio QM/MM MD simulations of the hydrated Ca2+ ion

Abstract

The comparison of two different combined quantum mechanical (QM)/molecular mechanical (MM) simulations treating the quantum mechanical region at Hartree-Fock (HF) and B3-LYP density functional theory (DFT) level allowed us to determine structural and dynamical properties of the hydrated calcium ion. The structure is discussed in terms of radial distribution functions, coordination number distributions, and various angular distributions and the dynamical properties, as librations and vibrations, reorientational times and mean residence times were evaluated by means of velocity autocorrelation functions. The QM/MM molecular dynamics (MD) simulation results prove an eightfold-coordinated complex to be the dominant species, yielding average coordination numbers of 7.9 in the HF and 8.0 in the DFT case. Structural and dynamical results show higher rigidity of the hydrate complex using DFT. The high instability of calcium ion's hydration shell allows the observation of water-exchange processes between first and second hydration shell and shows that the mean lifetimes of water molecules in this first shell (<100 ps) have been strongly overestimated by conclusions from experimental data.