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Molecular modeling of triton X micelles: force field parameters, self-assembly, and partition equilibria
Publikationstyp
Journal Article
Publikationsdatum
2015-04-09
Sprache
English
Institut
TORE-URI
Enthalten in
Volume
11
Issue
5
Start Page
2329
End Page
2340
Citation
Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation 5 (11): 2329-2340 (2015-05-12)
Publisher DOI
Scopus ID
Publisher
Soc.
Nonionic surfactants of the Triton X-series find various applications in extraction processes and as solubilizing agents for the purification of membrane proteins. However, so far no optimized parameters are available to perform molecular simulations with a biomolecular force field. Therefore, we have determined the first optimized set of CHARMM parameters for the Triton X-series, enabling all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In order to validate the new parameters, micellar sizes (aggregation numbers) of Triton X-114 and Triton X-100 have been investigated as a function of temperature and surfactant concentration. These results are comparable with experimental results. Furthermore, we have introduced a new algorithm to obtain micelle structures from self-assembly MD simulations for the COSMOmic method. This model allows efficient partition behavior predictions once a representative micelle structure is available. The predicted partition coefficients for the systems Triton X-114/water and Triton X-100/water are in excellent agreement with experimental results. Therefore, this method can be applied as a screening tool to find optimal solute-surfactant combinations or suitable surfactant systems for a specific application.
DDC Class
540: Chemie
600: Technik