| Summary: | This volume of Topics in Current Chemistry presents an overview of atomistic theoreticalmethodsapplied tomolecular biologicalsystems. Itthus repesents abottom-upview of chemistryonbiologyfroma theoreticalperspective. The chaptersarearrangedsuchthatimportantissuesareconsidered startingfrom a quantum mechanical perspective and proceeding to a molecular mechanics andmoleculardynamicsdescriptionofthemotionoftheelementaryparticles involved(i.e., ofelectronsandatomicnucleiandthenofatomsandmolecules), which are responsible for the properties and function of biomolecules. Depending on the length and time scales relevant for a given phenomenon to be investigated, tailored theoretical methods are required to account for these. If one is interested in large scale motions of molecules, a molecul- mechnanics-based descriptionwillbeappropriate. If, however, chemicalre- tions at local active sites within extended supramolecular ensembles such as metalloproteins shall be described, a quantum chemical descriptions of el- trons and atomic nuclei is most appropriate as such a type of modelling does automatically adjust to any given chemical situation. Whiletheemphasisineachchapterisontheapplicabilityandusefulnessof the various theoretical approaches for a given biological system, the authors made an effort to also provide brief introductions to the foundations of these approaches. It is hoped that each introduction helps to understand the origin of the particular method under consideration. For instance, the?rst chapter providesabriefintroductiontodensityfunctionaltheoryandtime-dependent density functionaltheory in the appendix. This volume is organized in a bottom-up spirit and startswith a review by De Gioia et al. on howchemical reactions at the active site of the hydrogenase metalloenzyme can be analyzed with quantum chemical methods, i.e., with those based onthe fundamental laws ofquantum mechanics.
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