Free energy calculation methods: A theoretical and empirical comparison of numerical errors and a new method qualitative estimates of free energy changes

We present a comparison of four free energy calculation methods: thermodynamic integration (TI); traditional free energy perturbation (FEP); Bennett's acceptance ratio method (IPS); and a method that is related to an implementation of the WHAM method (CRS). The theoretical bases of the methods are first described, then calculations of the solvation free energies of methane and ethane are performed to determine the magnitude of the errors for the different methods. We find that the methods give similar errors when many intermediate states (windows) are used, but the IPS and CRS methods give smaller errors than the TI and FEP methods when no intermediate states are used. We also present a new procedure (based on the CRS method) that uses coordinates from simulations of a set of solutes to calculate the salvation free energies of additional solutes for which no simulations were performed. Solvation free energies for nine solutes (methanol, dimethylether, methylamine, methylammonium, dimethylamine, fluoromethane, difluoromethane, trifluoromethane, and tetrafluoromethane) are estimated based only on simulations of set of small hydrophobic solutes (including methane, ethane, and propane). These estimates can be surprisingly accurate and appear to be useful for making rapid estimates of solvation free energies. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 18: 902–919, 1997