Quantum chemistry of macromolecular shape

Abstract

Some of the new developments in the quantum-chemical study of macromolecular shapes are reviewed, with special emphasis on the additive fuzzy electron density fragmentation methods and on the algebraic-topological shape group analysis of global and local shape features of fuzzy three-dimensional bodies of electron densities of macromolecules. Earlier applications of these methods to actual macromolecules are reviewed, including studies on the anticancer drug taxol, the proteins bovine insulin and HIV protease, and other macromolecules. The results of test calculations establishing the accuracy of these methods are also reviewed. The spherically weighted affine transformation technique is described and proposed for the deformation of electron densities approximating the changes occurring in small conformational displacements of atomic nuclei in macromolecules.