New hydrogen-bond potentials for use in determining energetically favorable binding sites on molecules of known structure.

An empirical energy function designed to calculate the interaction energy of a chemical probe group, such as a carbonyl oxygen or an amine nitrogen atom, with a target molecule has been developed. This function is used to determine the sites where ligands, such as drugs, may bind to a chosen target molecule which may be a protein, a nucleic acid, a polysaccharide, or a small organic molecule. The energy function is composed of a Lennard-Jones, an electrostatic and a hydrogen-bonding term. The latter is dependent on the length and orientation of the hydrogen bond and also on the chemical nature of the hydrogen-bonding atoms. These terms have been formulated by fitting to experimental observations of hydrogen bonds in crystal structures. In the calculations, thermal motion of the hydrogen-bonding hydrogen atoms and lone-pair electrons may be taken into account. For example, in a alcoholic hydroxyl group, the hydrogen may rotate around the C-O bond at the observed tetrahedral angle. In a histidine residue, a hydrogen atom may be bonded to either of the two imidazole nitrogens and movement of this hydrogen will cause a redistribution of charge which is dependent on the nature of the probe group and the surrounding environment. The shape of some of the energy functions is demonstrated on molecules of pharmacological interest.