Indexing Impropers

Impropers represent the improper angle that is often used in molecular mechanics to hold four atoms in a plane. Imagining three atoms (0, 2 and 3) each bonded to a central atom (2), the improper angle is defined by the four atoms 0-1-2-3 (note that there is typically no chemical bond between atoms 2 and 3).

There are four atoms, three bonds and three angles contained in an improper.

Improper is a molecular container that contains the four atoms, three bonds and three angles that make up the improper.

For example, let’s look at the aladip system again.

>>> import sire as sr
>>> mols = sr.load(sr.expand(sr.tutorial_url, ["ala.top", "ala.crd"]))
>>> mol = mols[0]
>>> print(mol)
Molecule( ACE:2   num_atoms=22 num_residues=3 )

We can get all of the impropers using the dihedrals() function.

>>> print(mol.impropers())
SelectorImproper( size=4
0: Improper( CA:9 <= C:15 => N:17 -- O:16 )
1: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
2: Improper( C:15 <= N:17 => CH3:19 -- H:18 )
3: Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )
)

The result (a SelectorImproper) is a molecular container for impropers. Like all molecular containers, it can be indexed,

>>> print(mol.impropers()[0])
Improper( CA:9 <= C:15 => N:17 -- O:16 )

sliced

>>> print(mol.impropers()[0:3])
SelectorImproper( size=3
0: Improper( CA:9 <= C:15 => N:17 -- O:16 )
1: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
2: Improper( C:15 <= N:17 => CH3:19 -- H:18 )
)

or accessed by a list of indicies

>>> print(mol.impropers()[ [0, 2] ])
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( CA:9 <= C:15 => N:17 -- O:16 )
1: Improper( C:15 <= N:17 => CH3:19 -- H:18 )
)

The Improper object is also a molecular container, so can be indexed, searched and sliced just like any other container.

>>> improper = mol.impropers()[0]
>>> print(improper[0])
Atom( CA:9    [  16.54,    5.03,   15.81] )
>>> print(improper[1])
Atom( C:15    [  15.37,    4.19,   16.43] )
>>> print(improper.angles()[0])
Angle( CA:9 <= C:15 => N:17 )
>>> print(improper.bonds()[0])
Bond( CA:9 => C:15 )

Accessing impropers by atom, bond or angle

You can also find impropers by looking for their constituent atoms. For example,

>>> print(mol.impropers("atomnum 9", "atomnum 15", "atomnum 17", "atomnum 16"))
SelectorImproper( size=1
0: Improper( CA:9 <= C:15 => N:17 -- O:16 )
)

Returns the impropers between atoms with numbers 9, 15, 17 and 16. If there are no impropers that match, then an empty list is returned.

>>> print(mol.impropers("atomnum 1", "atomnum 2", "atomnum 3", "atomnum 4"))
SelectorImproper::empty

If you are sure that there is only a single improper that matches, then you can use the improper() function

>>> print(mol.improper("atomnum 9", "atomnum 15", "atomnum 17", "atomnum 16"))
Improper( CA:9 <= C:15 => N:17 -- O:16 )

This will raise a KeyError if multiple impropers match, or if no impropers match.

You can use any valid atom identifier to identify the atoms. This includes search strings, e.g. here we can find all impropers nitrogen is only found in the central (second) atom of the improper.

>>> print(mol.impropers("not element N", "element N",
...                     "not element N", "not element N"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
1: Improper( C:15 <= N:17 => CH3:19 -- H:18 )
)

Passing in four atom identifiers, as above, will search for impropers by atom. Passing in three atom identifiers will search for impropers that contain the corresponding angle. For example

>>> print(mol.impropers("element C", "element N", "element C"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
1: Improper( C:15 <= N:17 => CH3:19 -- H:18 )
)

searches for impropers that contain carbon-nitrogen-carbon angles.

Passing in two atom identifiers will search for impropers that contain the corresponding bond.

For example, here we can find all of the impropers involving bonds between carbon and oxygen atoms,

>>> print(mol.impropers("element C", "element O"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )
1: Improper( CA:9 <= C:15 => N:17 -- O:16 )
)

This would also work using atom identifying types, e.g. looking for impropers that contains the bond between atoms O:6 and C:5.

>>> print(mol.impropers(sr.atomid("O", 6), sr.atomid("C", 5)))
SelectorImproper( size=1
0: Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )
)

You can even use complex search strings, here finding the impropers involving the bonds between atoms connecting two residues

>>> print(mol.impropers("atoms in residx 0", "atoms in residx 1"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )
1: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
)

or mixing and matching searches

>>> print(mol.impropers(sr.atomid("C", 5), "element N"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )
1: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
)

Passing in a single atom identifier will return all of the impropers that involve that atom (or atoms).

>>> print(mol.impropers("atomnum 5"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )
1: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
)

This has returned all of the impropers that involve atom number 5, while

>>> print(mol.impropers("element H"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
1: Improper( C:15 <= N:17 => CH3:19 -- H:18 )
)

gets all of the impropers that involve hydrogen.

Note that you can also use "*" to match anything, so

>>> print(mol.impropers("*", "element C", "*", "*"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )
1: Improper( CA:9 <= C:15 => N:17 -- O:16 )
)

returns all of the impropers which have a carbon as the central atom.

Accessing impropers by residue

You can also access impropers by residue, by passing in residue identifiers. Passing in two residue identifiers, such as here

>>> print(mol.impropers("residx 0", "residx 1"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )
1: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
)

gives all of the impropers that involve bonds that are between those two residues.

While passing in a single residue identifier

>>> print(mol.impropers("residx 0"))
SelectorImproper( size=2
0: Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )
1: Improper( C:5 <= N:7 => CA:9 -- H:8 )
)

gives all of the impropers that involve atoms in this residue (including the impropers to other residues).

If you want the impropers that are contained only within the residue, then use the improperss function on that residue,

>>> print(mol["residx 0"].impropers())
SelectorImproper::empty

Note

In this case, there are no impropers that are wholly contained within residues. All of the impropers in this molecule are used to keep the amide bonds between residues planar.

Calling the impropers function on any molecular container will return the impropers that involve only the atoms that are fully contained in that container.

Note

We have shown searching for impropers by residue. You can also search for impropers by chain or segment if your molecule has chains or segments. So print(mol.impropers("chainidx 0", "chainidx 1")) would print the impropers between the first two chains.

Uniquely identifying an improper

Impropers are identified by their ImproperID. This is a quad of AtomID identifiers, one for each of the four atoms to be identified. While the atom identifier can be any type, it is best to use atom indexes, as these uniquely identify atoms in a molecule. A ImproperID comprised of four AtomIdx identifiers will uniquely identify a single improper.

You can easily construct an ImproperID using the sire.improperid() function, e.g.

>>> print(sr.improperid(0, 1, 2, 3))
Improper( AtomIdx(0), AtomIdx(1), AtomIdx(2), AtomIdx(3) )

constructs a ImproperID from atom indexes,

>>> print(sr.improperid("CH3", "C", "N", "O"))
Improper( AtomName('CH3'), AtomName('C'), AtomName('N'), AtomName('O') )

constructs one from atom names, and

>>> print(sr.improperid(sr.atomid(1), sr.atomid(2),
...                     sr.atomid(3), sr.atomid(4)))
Improper( AtomNum(1), AtomNum(2), AtomNum(3), AtomNum(4) )

constructs one from atom numbers.

You can mix and match the IDs if you want.

You can then use the ImproperID to index, just like any other identifier class.

>>> print(mols[sr.improperid("CH3", "C", "N", "O")])
Improper( CH3:2 <= C:5 => N:7 -- O:6 )

gives the improper between the atoms called CH3, C, N and O in all molecules.