Fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method has recently been used to analyze interactions between proteins and
inhibitors for the purpose of drug discovery research. Unlike methods that use force field such as docking simulations,
FMO method considered electrons. Therefore, it is characterized by the ability to analyze interactions involving
electron correlation such as dispersion force. Furthermore, if a strong correlation can be obtained between the sum of
inter-fragment interaction energy (IFIE-sum) and the enthalpy change between the protein and the inhibitor, we have
also devised a method to predict free energy changes only by obtaining fragment interaction energies. As part of this
research, we investigated the correlation between IFIE-sum and the enthalpy change in HIV protease inhibitors, and
obtained a good correlation by appropriately classifying the target structures.
Keywords:fragment molecular orbital method, inter-fragment interaction energy, entropy-enthalpy compensation
Publication Date: 2022-10-25