Dissolved organic carbon--contaminant interaction descriptors found by 3D force field calculations

SAR QSAR Environ Res. 2002 Mar;13(2):271-80. doi: 10.1080/10629360290002767.

Abstract

Enthalpies of transfer at 300 K of various partitioning processes were calculated in order to study the suitability of 3D force fields for the calculation of partitioning constants. A 3D fulvic acid (FA) model of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was built in a MM+ force field using AMI atomic charges and geometrical optimization (GO). 3,5-Dichlorobiphenyl (PCB14), 4,4'-dichlorobiphenyl (PCB15), 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis-(4-chlorophenyl)-ethane (PPDDT) and 2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine (Atrazine) were inserted into different sites and their interaction energies with FA were calculated. Energies of hydration were calculated and subtracted from FA-contaminant interactions of selected sites. The resulting values for the enthalpies of transfer from water to DOC were 2.8, -1.4, -6.4 and 0.0 kcal/mol for PCB 14, PCB15, PPDDT and Atrazine, respectively. The value of PPDDT compared favorably with the experimental value of -5.0 kcal/mol. Prior to this, the method was studied by the calculation of the enthalpies of vaporization and aqueous solution using various force fields. In the MM + force field GO predicted enthalpies of vaporization deviated by +0.7 (PCB14), +3.6 (PCB15) and -0.7 (PPDDT)kcal/mol from experimental data, whereas enthalpies of aqueous solution deviated by -3.6 (PCB14), +5.8 (PCB15) and +3.7 (PPDDT) kcal/mol. Only for PCB14 the wrong sign of this enthalpy value was predicted. Potential advantages and limitations of the approach were discussed.

MeSH terms

  • Atrazine / chemistry*
  • Carbon / chemistry*
  • Forecasting
  • Herbicides / chemistry*
  • Polychlorinated Biphenyls / chemistry*
  • Solubility
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Thermodynamics
  • Volatilization
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*

Substances

  • Herbicides
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical
  • Carbon
  • Polychlorinated Biphenyls
  • 4,4'-dichlorobiphenyl
  • 3,5-dichlorobiphenyl
  • Atrazine