Frontiers in Chemistry (Feb 2023)

Protex—A Python utility for proton exchange in molecular dynamics simulations

  • Florian Joerg,
  • Florian Joerg,
  • Marcus Wieder,
  • Christian Schröder

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2023.1140896
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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Protex is an open-source program that enables proton exchanges of solvent molecules during molecular dynamics simulations. While conventional molecular dynamics simulations do not allow for bond breaking or formation, protex offers an easy-to-use interface to augment these simulations and define multiple proton sites for (de-)protonation using a single topology approach with two different λ-states. Protex was successfully applied to a protic ionic liquid system, where each molecule is prone to (de-)protonation. Transport properties were calculated and compared to experimental values and simulations without proton exchange.

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