Among various models that incorporate solvation effects into first-principles-based electronic structure theory such as density functional theory (DFT), the average solvent electrostatic potential/molecular dynamics (ASEP/MD) method is particularly advantageous. This method explicitly includes the nature of complicated solvent structures that is absent in implicit solvation methods. Because the...

We cast the problem of protein transfer free energy within the formalism of density functional theory (DFT), treating the protein as a source of external potential that acts upon the solvent. Solvent excluded volume, solvent-accessible surface area, and temperature dependence of the transfer free energy all emerge naturally within this formalism, and may be compared with simplified "back of the...