MM Atom Types file¶

The mmatomtypes_db file contains the matching rules for assigning MM atom types to chemical elements, based on their valence number, and the number of neighbor (bonded) atoms. The current implementation of UFF is limited to 6 MM atom types per element. The table contains for every MM atom type: Number of the element it belongs to, the i-th type of this element, the valence number corresponding to this MM atom type, number of neighbors this MM atom type has, the name of this MM atom type. The naming convention follows the original UFF paper [1]:

A five-character mnemonic label is used to describe the atom types. The first two characters correspond to the chemical symbol; an underscore appears in the second column if the symbol has one letter (e.g., N_ is nitrogen, Rh is rhodium). The third column describes the hybridization or geometry: 1 = linear, 2 = trigonal, R = resonant, 3 = tetrahedral, 4 = square planar, 5 = trigonal bipyramidal, 6 = octahedral. Thus N_3 is tetrahedral nitrogen, while Rh6 is octahedral rhodium. The forth and fifth columns are used as indicators of alternate parameters such as formal oxidation state: Rh6+3 indicates an octahedral rhodium formally in the +3 oxidation state, e.g., Rh(NH3)_6^3+. H_b indicates a bridging hydrogen as in B2Hs O_3_z is an oxygen suited for framework oxygens of a zeolite lattice. P_3_q is a tetrahedral four-coordinate phosphorus used to describe organo-metallic coordinated phosphines.

You can copy the mmatomtypes_db and change it if you need to modify the atom typing behavior of UFF. To use your new file in UFF, specify the following in your input:

UFF
    atomtypesfile /path/to/the/new/file/mymmatomtypes_db
End