How Do Nuclei Couple to the Magnetic Moment of a Paramagnetic Center? A New Theory at the Gauntlet of the Experiments

Linda Cerofolini, José Malanho Silva, Enrico Ravera, Maurizio Romanelli, Carlos F. G. C. Geraldes, Anjos L. Macedo, Marco Fragai, Giacomo Parigi, Claudio Luchinat

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The recent derivation, based on pure quantum chemistry (QC) first-principles, of the pseudocontact shifts (PCSs) caused by a paramagnetic metal center on far away nuclei has cast doubts on the validity of the semiempirical (SE) theory, predicting PCSs to arise from the metal magnetic susceptibility anisotropy. The SE theory has been used and applied countless times, especially in the last 2 decades, to obtain structural information on proteins containing paramagnetic metal ions. We show here that the QC and SE predictions can be directly tested against experiments, provided a suitable macromolecular system is used. The SE approach yields a good prediction of the experimental PCSs while the QC one does not. It appears that the classic theory is able to grasp satisfactorily the underlying physics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3610-3614
Number of pages5
JournalJOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
Volume10
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jul 2019

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