Software for the frontiers of quantum chemistry: An overview of developments in the Q-Chem 5 package.

This article summarizes technical advances contained in the fifth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program package, covering developments since 2015. A comprehensive library of exchange-correlation functionals, along with a suite of correlated many-body methods, continues to be a hallmark of the Q-Chem software. The many-body methods include novel variants of both coupled-cluster and configuration-interaction approaches along with methods based on the algebraic diagrammatic construction and variational reduced density-matrix methods. Methods highlighted in Q-Chem 5 include a suite of tools for modeling core-level spectroscopy, methods for describing metastable resonances, methods for computing vibronic spectra, the nuclear-electronic orbital method, and several different energy decomposition analysis techniques. High-performance capabilities including multithreaded parallelism and support for calculations on graphics processing units are described. Q-Chem boasts a community of well over 100 active academic developers, and the continuing evolution of the software is supported by an "open teamware" model and an increasingly modular design.

New algorithm for tensor contractions on multi-core CPUs, GPUs, and accelerators enables CCSD and EOM-CCSD calculations with over 1000 basis functions on a single compute node.

A new hardware-agnostic contraction algorithm for tensors of arbitrary symmetry and sparsity is presented. The algorithm is implemented as a stand-alone open-source code libxm. This code is also integrated with general tensor library libtensor and with the Q-Chem quantum-chemistry package. An overview of the algorithm, its implementation, and benchmarks are presented. Similarly to other tensor software, the algorithm exploits efficient matrix multiplication libraries and assumes that tensors are stored in a block-tensor form. The distinguishing features of the algorithm are: (i) efficient repackaging of the individual blocks into large matrices and back, which affords efficient graphics processing unit (GPU)-enabled calculations without modifications of higher-level codes; (ii) fully asynchronous data transfer between disk storage and fast memory. The algorithm enables canonical all-electron coupled-cluster and equation-of-motion coupled-cluster calculations with single and double substitutions (CCSD and EOM-CCSD) with over 1000 basis functions on a single quad-GPU machine. We show that the algorithm exhibits predicted theoretical scaling for canonical CCSD calculations, O(N6 ), irrespective of the data size on disk. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Extension of the Effective Fragment Potential Method to Macromolecules.

The effective fragment potential (EFP) approach, which can be described as a nonempirical polarizable force field, affords an accurate first-principles treatment of noncovalent interactions in extended systems. EFP can also describe the effect of the environment on the electronic properties (e.g., electronic excitation energies and ionization and electron-attachment energies) of a subsystem via the QM/EFP (quantum mechanics/EFP) polarizable embedding scheme. The original formulation of the method assumes that the system can be separated, without breaking covalent bonds, into closed-shell fragments, such as solvent and solute molecules. Here, we present an extension of the EFP method to macromolecules (mEFP). Several schemes for breaking a large molecule into small fragments described by EFP are presented and benchmarked. We focus on the electronic properties of molecules embedded into a protein environment and consider ionization, electron-attachment, and excitation energies (single-point calculations only). The model systems include chromophores of green and red fluorescent proteins surrounded by several nearby amino acid residues and phenolate bound to the T4 lysozyme. All mEFP schemes show robust performance and accurately reproduce the reference full QM calculations. For further applications of mEFP, we recommend either the scheme in which the peptide is cut along the Cα-C bond, giving rise to one fragment per amino acid, or the scheme with two cuts per amino acid, along the Cα-C and Cα-N bonds. While using these fragmentation schemes, the errors in solvatochromic shifts in electronic energy differences (excitation, ionization, electron detachment, or electron-attachment) do not exceed 0.1 eV. The largest error of QM/mEFP against QM/EFP (no fragmentation of the EFP part) is 0.06 eV (in most cases, the errors are 0.01-0.02 eV). The errors in the QM/molecular mechanics calculations with standard point charges can be as large as 0.3 eV.

Hybrid MPI/OpenMP parallelization of the effective fragment potential method in the libefp software library.

A new hybrid MPI/OpenMP parallelization scheme is introduced for the Effective Fragment Potential (EFP) method implemented in the libefp software library. The new implementation employs dynamic load balancing algorithm that uses a master/slave model. The software shows excellent parallel scaling up to several hundreds of CPU-cores across multiple nodes. The code uses functions only from the well-established MPI-1 standard that simplifies portability of the library. This new parallel EFP implementation greatly expands the applicability of the EFP and QM/EFP methods by extending attainable time- and length-scales.

LIBEFP: A new parallel implementation of the effective fragment potential method as a portable software library.

A new high performance parallel implementation of the general Effective Fragment Potential (EFP) method in a form of a portable software library called libefp is presented. The libefp library was designed to provide developers of various quantum chemistry software packages with an easy way to add EFP functionality to the program of their choice. The general overview of the library is presented and various aspects of interfacing the library with third party quantum chemistry packages are considered. The reference implementation of common methods of computational chemistry such as geometry optimization and molecular dynamics on top of libefp is delivered in the form of efpmd program. Results of molecular dynamics simulation of liquid water using the developed software are described.

New implementation of high-level correlated methods using a general block tensor library for high-performance electronic structure calculations.

This article presents an open-source object-oriented C++ library of classes and routines to perform tensor algebra.The primary purpose of the library is to enable post-Hartree­Fock electronic structure methods; however, the code is general enough to be applicable in other areas of physical and computational sciences. The library supports tensors of arbitrary order (dimensionality), size, and symmetry. Implemented data structures and algorithms operate on large tensors by splitting them into smaller blocks, storing them both in core memory and in files on disk, and applying divide-and-conquer-type parallel algorithms to perform tensor algebra. The library offers a set of general tensor symmetry algorithms and a full implementation of tensor symmetries typically found in electronic structure theory: permutational, spin, and molecular point group symmetry. The Q-Chem electronic structure software uses this library to drive coupled-cluster, equation-of-motion, and algebraic-diagrammatic construction methods.

Effective fragment potential method in Q-CHEM: a guide for users and developers.

A detailed description of the implementation of the effective fragment potential (EFP) method in the Q-CHEM electronic structure package is presented. The Q-CHEM implementation interfaces EFP with standard quantum mechanical (QM) methods such as Hartree-Fock, density functional theory, perturbation theory, and coupled-cluster methods, as well as with methods for electronically excited and open-shell species, for example, configuration interaction, time-dependent density functional theory, and equation-of-motion coupled-cluster models. In addition to the QM/EFP functionality, a "fragment-only" feature is also available (when the system is described by effective fragments only). To aid further developments of the EFP methodology, a detailed description of the C++ classes and EFP module's workflow is presented. The EFP input structure and EFP job options are described. To assist setting up and performing EFP calculations, a collection of Perl service scripts is provided. The precomputed EFP parameters for standard fragments such as common solvents are stored in Q-CHEM's auxiliary library; they can be easily invoked, similar to specifying standard basis sets. The instructions for generating user-defined EFP parameters are given. Fragments positions can be specified by their center of mass coordinates and Euler angles. The interface with the IQMOL and WEBMO software is also described.

Minimum energy reaction profiles for ATP hydrolysis in myosin.

The minimum energy reaction profiles corresponding to two possible reaction mechanisms of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) hydrolysis in myosin are computed in this work within the framework of the quantum mechanics-molecular mechanics (QM/MM) method by using the same partitioning of the model system to the QM and MM parts and the same computational protocol. On the first reaction route, one water molecule performs nucleophilic attack at the phosphorus center P(γ) from ATP while the second water molecule in the closed protein cleft serves as a catalytic base assisted by the Glu residue from the myosin salt bridge. According to the present QM/MM calculations consistent with the results of kinetic studies this reaction pathway is characterized by a low activation energy barrier about 10 kcal/mol. The computed activation energy barrier for the second mechanism, which assumes the penta-coordinated oxyphosphorane transition state upon involvement of single water molecule in the reaction, is considerably higher than that for the two-water mechanism.

Free Energy Barriers for the N-Terminal Asparagine to Succinimide Conversion: Quantum Molecular Dynamics Simulations for the Fully Solvated Model.

Deamidation of asparagine residues represents one of the main routes for the post-translational modification of protein sequences. We computed the estimates of the free energy barriers for three stages of the deamidation process, deprotonation, cyclization, and deamination, of the conversion of asparagine to the succinimide intermediate within the fully solvated model with explicit water molecules. The Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics in the Gaussian and Plane Wave (GPW) approximation as implemented in the CP2K quantum chemistry package was utilized to sample the configurational space. By applying the metadynamics technique, the estimates of the free energy barriers were obtained for three separated stages of the reaction. In agreement with the experimental kinetic measurements, the estimated activation barriers do not exceed 21 kcal/mol. We demonstrate that the use of fully solvated models is the critical issue in theoretical studies of these reactions. We also conclude that more extensive sampling is necessary to obtain full free energy profiles and accurate barriers for the reaction stages.

Opening the Arg-Glu salt bridge in myosin: computational study.

Opening the Arg-Glu salt bridge in myosin, which presumably succeeds the myosin-catalyzed hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate, was modeled computationally on the basis of the structures corresponding to the enzyme-substrate and enzyme-product complexes found in the quantum mechanics-molecular mechanics simulations. According to the calculations of the potential of mean force, opening the bridge is considerably facilitated upon termination of the chemical reaction, but does not promote egress of inorganic phosphate by the back-door mechanism.

Modeling negative ion defect migration through the gramicidin A channel.

The results of potential of mean force (PMF) calculations for the distinct stages of proton conduction through the gramicidin A channel, including proton migration, reorientation of the water file and negative ion defect migration, are presented. The negative ion defect migration mechanism was hypothesized in experimental studies but was not considered previously in molecular dynamics simulations. The model system consisted of the peptide chains constructed on the base of the structure PDBID:1JNO, the inner file of nine water molecules and external clusters of water molecules placed at both ends of the channel. Potential energy functions were computed with the CHARMM/PM6/TIP3P parameters. The results obtained for proton migration and water file reorientation are basically consistent with those reported previously by Pómès and Roux (Biophys J 82:2304, 2002) within the similar approach. For the newly considered mechanism of negative ion defect migration from the channel center to the end of the water file we obtain the energy 3.8 kcal mol(-1) which is not considerably different from the activation energy of water reorientation, 5.4 kcal mol(-1). Therefore this mechanism may principally compete for the rate-limiting step in proton conduction in gramicidin.