The inclusion complex of NH
4+ with tetranactin increases the fluxes of ions across thin lipid membranes. When NH
4+ is inserted into the ionophore of tetranactin, the conformation changes greatly ; this structural change is called an "induced fit." When the conformation change of tetranactin is induced by the approach of NH
4+, the four ether oxygens of the tetrahydrofuran rings and the four carbonyl oxygens of the ester groups function to include NH
4+ in the molecule. The ether oxygens rotate inwards to hold NH
4+ inside tetranactin, and the carbonyl oxygens rotate inwards to prevent NH
4+ from escaping. The four ether oxygens form linear hydrogen bonds with NH
4+. Although the four carbonyl oxygens approach NH
4+ at distances similar to those of the four ether oxygens, the carbonyl oxygens do not form linear hydrogen bonds with NH
4+. In order to clarify the induced fit mechanism of the ionophore, in this paper, the inclusion complex of NH
4+ with tetranactin was studied with regard to the arrangement of NH
4+ in the tetranactin molecule from a quantum-chemical point of view. Since tetranactin is too large for double zeta ab initio SCF calculations, functional groups which have large contributions to the insertion of NH
4+ were selected as a model for the tetranactin ; the model consisted of four HCHO molecules and four H
2O molecules. The model was in good accord with the actual result, and thus appears to be appropriate. Tetranactin is composed of four homonactinic acid moieties, and the interaction energy between each of them and NH
4+ is significant for the arrangement of NH
4+. The interaction energy between NH
4+ and the four ether groups was -73.2 kcal/mol, and the interaction energy between NH
4+ and the four carbonyl groups was -39.4 kcal/mol. The interaction energy between NH
4+ and the ether groups was thus about 1.9 times larger than that between NH
4+ and the ester groups. The interaction energy between NH
4+ and the eight ether and ester groups was -109.0 kcal/mol. From the results of geometry optimizations, the interaction energy between NH
4+ and CH
3OCH
3 was larger than that between NH
4+ and HCOOH by 5.8 kcal/mol due to the electrostatic interaction energy. Therefore, even though the four carbonyl groups may move to accommodate NH
4+ in tetranactin, the four ether groups of tetranactin will interact more strongly with NH
4+ than the four carbonyl groups, and NH
4+ will orient to the ether groups. Moreover, when perturbation of the ionophore by the rotation of NH
4+ is neglected, the rotational inhibition energy of NH
4+ in tetranactin was calculated to be 9.8 kcal/mol ; thus, NH
4+ is expected to orient to the four ether oxygens.
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