Molecular docking has become an increasingly important tool for drug discovery. In this review, we present a brief introduction of the available molecular docking methods, and their development and applications in drug discovery. The relevant basic theories, including sampling algorithms and scoring functions, are summarized. The differences in and performance of available docking software are also discussed. Flexible receptor molecular docking approaches, especially those including backbone flexibility in receptors, are a challenge for available docking methods. A recently developed Local Move Monte Carlo (LMMC) based approach is introduced as a potential solution to flexible receptor docking problems. Three application examples of molecular docking approaches for drug discovery are provided.

We present a time-domain ab initio study of electron–hole recombination in pristine MAPbI₃, and compare it to the trap mediated recombination in MAPbI₃ with the iodine interstitial defect. Nonadiabatic molecular dynamics combined with time-domain density functional theory show that the iodine interstitial defect creates a subgap state capable of trapping both electrons and holes. Hole trapping occurs much faster than electron trapping or electron–hole recombination. The trapped hole survives for hundreds of nanoseconds, because, rather surprisingly, recombination of electrons with the trapped hole takes several times longer than recombination of electrons with holes in the valence band. Because the hole trap is relatively shallow, the hole can escape into the valence band prior to recombining with the electron. The differences are rationalized by variation in nonadiabatic electron–phonon couplings, phonon-induced pure-dephasing times and electronic energy gaps. The time-domain atomistic simulations contribute to understanding of the experimentally known defect-tolerance of perovskite solar cells, which is of great importance to the solar cell performance.

Boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) compounds have been used extensively. However, their application in photocatalysis has not been well-studied. In this report, iodo-BODIPYs were utilized as visible-light-driven photocatalysts. They demonstrated very high catalytic efficiencies and reaction rates for the photocatalyzed oxidation of thioanisole under visible light.

The Ru(II) complexes [Ru(bpp)(dcbpy)Cl]⁺ (1), [Ru(tcbpp)(bpy)Cl]⁺ (2), and [Ru(tc′bpp)(bpy)Cl]⁺ (3) (bpp = 2,6-bis(N-pyrazolyl)pyridine, dcbpy = 4,4′-dicarboxyl-bipyridine, bpy = bipyridine, tcbpp = 4-carboxyl-2,6-bis(2-carboxyl-N-pyrazolyl)pyridine, tc′bpp = 4-carboxyl-2,6-bis(4-carboxyl-N-pyrazolyl)pyridine) are studied theoretically using density functional theory (DFT) techniques to explore their properties as dye in a solar cell. The calculated geometry structure and absorption spectrum of 1 are consistent with its experimental results. The calculation results indicate which sites the COOH groups attach to can significantly influence the electronic structure of the complex. By migrating the COOH groups from the bpy ligand in 1 to bpp ligand in 2 and 3, the nature of LUMO changes from bpy-localized to bpp dominated. The calculated low-lying absorptions at λ > 370 nm of the three complexes are categorized as metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) transitions and the transition terminates at the orbital populated by the COOH appended ligand. The atomic spin density analysis also indicates that the ligand which is modified by the COOH groups is the ideal spot for the captured electron to situate. It can be predicted that the performance of 2 and 3 in the dye-sensitized solar cell can be enhanced as compared with 1.