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Correction: The influence of model building schemes and molecular dynamics sampling on QM-cluster models: the chorismate mutase case study

Donatus A. Agbaglo, Thomas J. Summers, Qianyi Cheng and Nathan J. DeYonker*
Department of Chemistry, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA. E-mail: ndyonker@memphis.edu

Received 18th February 2026 , Accepted 18th February 2026

First published on 12th March 2026


Abstract

Correction for ‘The influence of model building schemes and molecular dynamics sampling on QM-cluster models: the chorismate mutase case study’ by Donatus A. Agbaglo et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2024, 26, 12467–12482, https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CP06100K.


The authors would like to amend the results in the subsection “Schemes for selection of frames for the QM-cluster models from MD trajectories”. For Schemes 2–7 (S2–S7), it was originally written that the RMSD value was computed with respect to the X-ray crystal structure. However, in all cases, the RMSD value was computed with respect to the initial equilibrated structure from the molecular dynamics simulation.

After processing the 250 QM-cluster models to prepare some new data analysis for a forthcoming manuscript, we found some incorrect values in our data.

In the reported dataset:

Scheme 1, frame 20[thin space (1/6-em)]000:

Old ΔG = 9.60 kcal/mol, corrected ΔG = 12.52 kcal mol−1

Old ΔGrxn = −15.14 kcal mol−1, corrected ΔGrxn = −10.33 kcal mol−1

Scheme 4, frame 4591:

Old ΔG = 11.06 kcal mol−1, corrected ΔG = 11.20 kcal mol−1

Old ΔGrxn = −19.92 kcal mol−1, corrected ΔGrxn = −12.02 kcal mol−1

Scheme 6, frame 4114 had subtle issues with the transition state search that sneaked into the publication. We have redone the computations and obtained the results reported here.

Old ΔG = 19.07 kcal mol−1, corrected ΔG = 10.62 kcal mol−1

Old ΔGrxn = −19.42 kcal mol−1, corrected ΔGrxn = −17.08 kcal mol−1

Scheme 8 frame 15[thin space (1/6-em)]461:

Values of ΔG = 9.05 kcal mol−1 and ΔGrxn = −15.99 kcal mol−1 are correctly labeled in Table S9, but incorrect values were used in Tables 1 and 2. This has now been fixed.

New versions of Tables 1 and 2 are provided below.

A few of the selected 30 frames from S2, S3, and S4 did not meet the criteria for each scheme and were incorrectly included in those schemes: Frames 101, 2322, 15[thin space (1/6-em)]246, and 17[thin space (1/6-em)]817 in S2; frames 758, 4165, 6412, 12[thin space (1/6-em)]729, and 18[thin space (1/6-em)]630 in S3; frames 232, 806, 8886, 9662, and 18[thin space (1/6-em)]831 in S4. We have removed the 14 incorrect frames from their relevant schemes and moved them into a new Scheme 9 (S9) that is essentially another route for random frame selection. As expected, S9 kinetics and thermodynamics are qualitatively similar to S1, where frames were selected at a constant interval of 1000 MD steps. Their inclusion into the superset of randomly selected frames in Table 2 (now labeled S1 + S2 + S7 + S9) has almost no effect on the final results.

Some of the frames selected in the k-means clustering of Scheme S5 were also misclassified. Of the 30 selected frames, 10 belonged to the first cluster (C1) where frames mostly had the largest RMSD of all heavy atoms compared to the initial MD structure, 14 belonged to C2, and only 6 belonged to C3, the cluster where frames generally had the smallest RMSD compared to the MD structure.

Changes to the final statistical metrics are not significant and the conclusions of the published work remain valid. Interestingly though, a new trend in Table 1 seems to emerge where activation energies increase with respect to increasing cluster number in Scheme S5. However, this relationship disappears when the QM-cluster models of a larger number of frames are partitioned into the three k-means clusters used for S5 (Table 2).

Table 1 Mean free energies of activation and reaction for the various MD frame selection schemes. k-means clusters are labelled with a C. (All values in kcal mol−1)
Scheme Cluster # of frames Mean ΔG σ Mean ΔGrxn σ
S1   20 10.22 2.92 −15.99 4.10
S2   26 10.03 2.20 −16.36 3.41
S3   25 9.93 2.80 −15.10 3.18
S4   25 10.22 1.96 −15.62 2.84
S5   30 10.29 3.05 −15.57 3.09
  C1 10 9.90 2.74 −16.78 3.12
  C2 14 10.37 3.65 −15.25 3.21
  C3 6 10.76 1.51 −14.31 1.83
S6   40 10.02 1.91 −15.18 2.98
S7   40 10.74 2.69 −15.35 3.52
S8   30 10.96 2.69 −13.82 3.36
  C1 10 10.83 1.95 −13.85 2.30
  C2 10 10.80 3.94 −13.57 4.15
  C3 10 11.25 1.53 −14.06 3.34
S9   14 10.13 2.65 −15.33 3.84
Full set   250 10.31 2.57 −15.32 3.40


Table 2 Mean free energies of activation and reaction for the expanded schemes. The individual k-means clusters are labelled XC. (All values in kcal mol−1)
Scheme Cluster # of frames Mean ΔG σ Mean ΔGrxn σ
S1 + S6 + S7 + S9   114 10.32 2.51 −15.40 3.51
XS2   148 10.13 2.66 −15.54 3.45
XS3   176 10.34 2.60 −15.38 3.51
XS4   186 10.41 2.64 −15.29 3.38
XS5            
  XC1 92 10.28 2.64 −16.10 3.96
  XC2 89 10.20 2.70 −14.88 3.00
  XC3 69 10.50 2.28 −14.85 2.83
XS8            
  XC1 77 10.46 2.53 −15.32 3.59
  XC2 81 10.17 2.69 −14.92 3.33
  XC3 92 10.32 2.49 −15.69 3.24


A few of the output structures in the Electronic supplementary information document are also missing. An updated version of the SI (also incorporating the aforementioned corrections to frames 4114, 4591, and 20[thin space (1/6-em)]000) with all optimized PDB structures is provided at https://github.com/natedey/cm-MD_to_QM.

The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.


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