The Role of Fluorine Atoms in a Fluorinated Prostaglandin Agonist

Abstract

The role of covalently bound fluorine atoms in fluorinated prostaglandin agonist–receptor binding was studied using molecular dynamics and the fragment molecular orbital method. In agreement with experimental data, the simulated geometries of the fluorine and surrounding amino acid residues suggest that CF⋅⋅⋅H and F⋅⋅⋅CO interactions positively contribute to the receptor binding affinity of these ligands. The pair interaction energy profile of the fluorinated agonist confirmed these interactions. A similar profile obtained for the parent agonist suggested that the ω-chains play equivalent roles. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.