Quantum mechanics in structure-based drug design.

In principle, quantum mechanics provides a more accurate representation of molecular systems than other modeling approaches. While this notion is not a matter of dispute, it has not yet been definitively demonstrated within the realm of structure-based drug design that the use of quantum mechanical methods over the use of classical modeling approaches is justified in consideration of the increase in expense associated with quantum mechanical methods. Demonstrating that quantum mechanics-based methods can be superior to simpler models, and resolving problems relating to estimating the effects of conformational entropy, will provide key areas of interest in the coming years for in silico structure-based drug design. Recent applications using quantum mechanical methods in structure-based drug design are reviewed herein, and applications ranging from scoring receptor-ligand interactions using quantum mechanics to the generation of quantitative structure-activity relationships using quantum mechanics-derived descriptors are discussed.