Is it required to optimize drug molecule before docking. I docked a drug against a receptor without the optimization. It performs pretty well. And the structures are stable and no changes of the bond seen. My question is will the reviewer of the journal reject my article if I do docking without drug optimization via gaussian or other method?
Your work will not be rejected, once you have achieved the desired results then you have pave a new possibility you just have to proof it pretty well.
Answering your initial question: no, it is not mandatory to optimize a molecule before docking. BUT you need to be sure that the structure you are using has no issue of clashing atoms, bad geometry, etc. Doing structure optimization with any molecular mechanics software (for example, OpenBabel) will be enough.
For your last question: if you are clear in the manuscript about using a good molecular structure for your ligands, there is no justification for asking to optimize it with any method (as it is expected that the docking protocol will change the initial conformation).
If you need more help, please, visit our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MolDocking
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