Comment on the validation of continuum electrostatics models

A validation based on solvation energies (vacuum to water transfer) is not sufficient to justify the use of approximated models of electrostatics to r ank ligand/protein complexes. A full validation should be based on energies in solution, i.e., solvation plus vacuum Coulomb energies, because of the anticorrelation between solvation and vacuum energies. The energy in soluti on is the relevant quantity in simulations of biological macromolecules and complexes. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.