Structure of POPC lipid bilayers in OPLS3e force field

It is crucial for molecular dynamics simulations of biomembranes that the force field parameters give a realistic model of the membrane behavior. In this study, we examined the OPLS3e force field for the carbon–hydrogen order parameters SCH of POPC (1-palmitoyl-2-oleylphosphatidylcholine) lipid bilayers at varying hydration conditions and ion concentrations. The results show that OPLS3e behaves similarly to the CHARMM36 force field and relatively accurately follows the experimentally measured SCH for the lipid headgroup, the glycerol backbone, and the acyl tails. Thus, OPLS3e is a good choice for simulations of most membrane systems. The exception are systems with an abundancy of ions, as similarly to most other force fields OPLS3e strongly overestimates the membrane-binding of cations, especially Ca2+. This leads to undesirable positive charge of the membrane surface and drastically lowers the concentration of Ca2+ in the surrounding solvent, which might cause issues in systems sensitive to correct charge distribution profiles across the membrane.