Path dependence of free energy components in thermodynamic integration

M. Zacharias, T. P. Straatsma

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this article it is shown that the decomposition of free energy differences, as evaluated by molecular simulations using thermodynamic integration, in terms of components corresponding to terms in the Hamiltonian, cannot be uniquely performed. This path dependence of the contributions to the total free energy difference is shown for the calculated difference in free energy of hydration of ethanol and ethane. The conclusion of this study is that the individual free energy difference contributions from such calculations should, in general, be interpreted with care.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)417-423
Number of pages7
JournalMolecular Simulation
Volume14
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1995
Externally publishedYes

Funding

We thank J. A. McCammon, W. F.van Gunsteren, P. E. Smith and M. Karplus for stimulating discussions. M. Z. was supported in part by a postdoctoral fellowship from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. This work was supported in part grants to Professor McCammon from NSF, the Robert A. Welch Foundation, and the Grand Challenge program of the NSF Supercomputer centers.

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