Molecular Modeling & Visualization

Molecular Modeling and Visualization

This guide helps you to get started with molecular dynamics and computational chemistry packages installed in HPC, and use appropriate visualization tools to analyze and visualize the outputs.

Important Notes

Running Job in HPC

You can copy the sample files from /usr/local/doc/MolecularModeling and change directory to specific Software directory.

cp -r /usr/local/doc/MolecularModeling .

cd gaussian                                 # for Gaussian 

Gaussian 

Interactive Job:

In the hpc Linux terminal, type the following to request a compute node with x11-forwarding option. For better visualization experience, refer to HPC GUI Visual Access.

srun --x11 --mem=4gb --pty bash

Refer to HPC Guide to Gaussian for details.

Example: Toluene - methylbenzene [4]

Load the Gaussian Module and run GaussView

module load gaussian

gview &

In the GaussView GUI, build a Tolune molecule following the instruction at [4].

Alternatively, you can open the Gaussian input or setup file "toluene.com" from /usr/local/doc/MolecularModeling/gaussian which produces the molecule as in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 Toluene molecule in GaussView

View the toluene.com file

cat tolune.com

output:

%nprocshared=4

%mem=16MW

%chk=toluene.chk

# opt=calcfc freq=raman b3lyp/6-31g(d) geom=connectivity

tolune

0 1

 C                 -2.30021599   -0.39956803    0.00000000

...

 H                  1.68892795   -0.07145942    0.49472818

 1 2 1.5 6 1.5 7 1.0

...

The brief description is given below but for details, refer to Gaussian Tutorial [5]. You can also check Calculate->Gaussian Calculation Setup ...

Job Type: Opt+Freq

Compute Raman: Yes

Calculate Force Constants: Once

Method:

Method: Ground State; DFT; Default Spin; B3LYP

Basis Set: 6-31G d

Charge:0

Spin:Singlet

Title: tolune

Link0:

Memory Limit: Specify -> 16 MW

Chkpoint File: Specify -> tolune.chk

Shared Processors: Specify -> 4

The first line in the zmatrix section that describes the location of each atom in the molecule specifies:

Atom 1, connected with atom 2, atom 6, and atom 7 with bond length 1.5, 1.5 and 1.0 respectively.

Batch job:

You can now submit the Gaussian job as a batch job submission. Find the job file "toluene.job" in the gaussian directory and submit 

sbatch toluene.job

You will get the output file "toluene.log:

Entering Gaussian System, Link 0=g09

 Input=toluene.com

 Output=toluene.log

 Initial command:

 /usr/local/gaussian/09/g09/l1.exe /scratch/pbsjobs/gaussian/Gau-7576.inp -scrdir=/scratch/pbsjobs/gaussian/

 Entering Link 1 = /usr/local/gaussian/09/g09/l1.exe PID=      7577.

 Copyright (c) 1988,1990,1992,1993,1995,1998,2003,2009, Gaussian, Inc.

                  All Rights Reserved.

...

Will use up to    4 processors via shared memory.

 %mem=16MW

 %chk=toluene.chk

 --------------------------------------------------------

 # opt=calcfc freq=raman b3lyp/6-31g(d) geom=connectivity

 --------------------------------------------------------

 1/10=4,14=-1,18=20,19=15,26=3,38=1,57=2/1,3;

  6/7=2,8=2,9=2,10=2,19=2,28=1/1;

 99/9=1/99;

 ------

 tolune

 ------

 Symbolic Z-matrix:

 Charge =  0 Multiplicity = 1

 C                    -2.30022  -0.39957   0.

...

 Predicted change in Energy=-3.941680D-09

 Optimization completed on the basis of negligible forces.

    -- Stationary point found.

                           ----------------------------

                           !   Optimized Parameters   !

                           ! (Angstroms and Degrees)  !

 --------------------------                            --------------------------

 ! Name  Definition              Value          Derivative Info.                !

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 ! R1    R(1,2)                  1.3955         -DE/DX =    0.0                 !

 ! R2    R(1,6)                  1.3959         -DE/DX =    0.0                 !

 ! R3    R(1,7)                  1.0871         -DE/DX =    0.0                 !

...

Job cpu time:  0 days  0 hours  6 minutes 49.0 seconds.

 File lengths (MBytes):  RWF=     34 Int=      0 D2E=      0 Chk=      2 Scr=      1

 Normal termination of Gaussian 09 at Fri Jul 21 13:30:41 2017.

Analyze and Visualize:

To view this output in GaussView:

Open the GaussView if it has been closed:

gview &

Fig. 2: IR Spectrum for Toluene

Visit and ParaView

The molecule can be visualized in Scientific visualization tools like Visit and ParaView for higher resolution. Please refer to HPC Visit Guide and HPC ParaView Guide for details.

Visit:

Make sure that you have saved toulene.com also in .pdb format

Get the compute node referring to "Interactive Visual Session" section above.

Load the module and open the GUI

module load visit

visit &

In the GUI:

Fig. 3: Toluene molecule in Visit.

VMD

Please refer to HPC VMD Guide and VMD Protein Simulation tutorial [6]. 

Load the module and open the GUI

module load visit

vmd &

In the GUI:

loading history file ... 4 events added

Main console display active (Tcl8.5.6 / Tk8.5.6)

(Gaussian) 5 % display resize 1050 800

>Main< (Gaussian) 6 % display vmdscene.dat.tga

Animation (Movie):

VMD with NAMD

Simulation:

load the NAMD module. Refer to HPC NAMD Guide for details.

module load namd

For details on MD Simulations, visit 1UBQ example [7]. 

Get tutorial files at http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Training/Tutorials/namd/namd-tutorial-files/1-1-build/

Search for 1UBQ in protein database at http://www.pdb.org and download the pdb file

VASPTools

Please refer to HPC Guide to VASPTools.

References:

[1] Evolution of Quantum Theory

[2] HPC Guide to Molecular Modeling Software

[3] HPC Guide to Gaussian

[4] Quantum Chemistry with Gaussian using GaussView

[5] Gaussian Tutorial

[6] VMD Protein Simulation tutorial

[7] MD Simulations