Water as a molecular hinge in amidelike structures

The authors have studied the reorientational dynamics of isolated water molecules in a solution of N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA). From linear spectra, the authors find that the water in this solution forms double hydrogen bond connections to the DMA molecules, resulting in the formation of DMA-water-DMA complexes. The authors use polarization-resolved mid-infrared pump-probe spectroscopy on the water in these complexes to measure the depolarization of three distinct transition dipole moments, each with a different directionality relative to the molecular frame (OH stretch in HDO, symmetric and asymmetric stretch normal modes in H(2)O). By combining these measurements, the authors find that the system exhibits bimodal rotational dynamics with two distinct time scales: a slow (7+/-1 ps) reorientation of the entire DMA-water complex and a fast (0.5+/-0.2 ps) "hinging" motion of the water molecule around the axis parallel to the connecting hydrogen bonds. Additionally, the authors observe an exchange of energy between the two normal modes of H(2)O at a time scale of 0.8+/-0.1 ps and find that the vibrational excitation decays through the symmetric stretch normal mode with a time constant of 0.8+/-0.2 ps.     

Water at the surfaces of aligned phospholipid multibilayer model membranes probed with ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy

The dynamics of water at the surface of artificial membranes composed of aligned multibilayers of the phospholipid dilauroyl phosphatidylcholine (DLPC) are probed with ultrafast polarization selective vibrational pump-probe spectroscopy. The experiments are performed at various hydration levels, x = 2 - 16 water molecules per lipid at 37 degrees C. The water molecules are approximately 1 nm above or below the membrane surface. The experiments are conducted on the OD stretching mode of dilute HOD in H 2O to eliminate vibrational excitation transfer. The FT-IR absorption spectra of the OD stretch in the DLPC bilayer system at low hydration levels shows a red-shift in frequency relative to bulk water, which is in contrast to the blue-shift often observed in systems such as water nanopools in reverse micelles. The spectra for x = 4 - 16 can be reproduced by a superposition of the spectra for x = 2 and bulk water. IR Pump-probe measurements reveal that the vibrational population decays (lifetimes) become longer as the hydration level is decreased. The population decays are fit well by biexponential functions. The population decays, measured as a function of the OD stretch frequency, suggest the existence of two major types of water molecules in the interfacial region of the lipid bilayers. One component may be a clathrate-like water cluster near the hydrophobic choline group and the other may be related to the hydration water molecules mainly associated with the phosphate group. As the hydration level increases, the vibrational lifetimes of these two components decrease, suggesting a continuous evolution of the hydration structures in the two components associated with the swelling of the bilayers. The agreement of the magnitudes of the two components obtained from IR spectra with those from vibrational lifetime measurements further supports the two-component model. The vibrational population decay fitting also gives an estimation of the number of phosphate-associated water molecules and choline-associated water molecules, which range from 1 to 4 and 1 to 12, respectively, as x increases from 2 to 16. Time-dependent anisotropy measurements yield the rate of orientational relaxation as a function of x. The anisotropy decay is biexponential. The fast component is almost independent of x, and is interpreted as small orientational fluctuations that occur without hydrogen-bond rearrangement. The slower component becomes very long as the hydration level decreases. This component is a measure of the rate of complete orientational randomization, which requires H-bond rearrangement and is discussed in terms of a jump reorientation model.     

Orientational dynamics of isotopically diluted H2O and D2O

We use femtosecond midinfrared pump-probe spectroscopy to compare the ultrafast dynamics of HDO dissolved in D2O and H2O. For both systems the vibrational energy relaxation proceeds through an intermediate state. The relaxation leads to heating of the sample, which is observed in the transient spectra. In order to obtain the correct anisotropy decay, the ingrowing heating signal is subtracted from the raw data. For the OD vibration this procedure works well. For the OH vibration, however, we find an additional effect that leads to a severe distortion of the anisotropy. We show that this effect can be explained by a slightly faster reorientation of excited molecules during their relaxation as compared to unexcited molecules. We construct a model that includes this effect and is able to reproduce the experimental data. Using this model we show how the distorted anisotropy can be corrected.     

Water Dynamics in Nafion Fuel Cell Membranes: the Effects of Confinement and Structural Changes on the Hydrogen Bond Network

The complex environments experienced by water molecules in the hydrophilic channels of Nafion membranes are studied by ultrafast infrared pump-probe spectroscopy. A wavelength dependent study of the vibrational lifetime of the O-D stretch of dilute HOD in H(2)O confined in Nafion membranes provides evidence of two distinct ensembles of water molecules. While only two ensembles are present at each level of membrane hydration studied, the characteristics of the two ensembles change as the water content of the membrane changes. Time dependent anisotropy measurements show that the orientational motions of water molecules in Nafion membranes are significantly slower than in bulk water and that lower hydration levels result in slower orientational relaxation. Initial wavelength dependent results for the anisotropy show no clear variation in the time scale for orientational motion across a broad range of frequencies. The anisotropy decay is analyzed using a model based on restricted orientational diffusion within a hydrogen bond configuration followed by total reorientation through jump diffusion.     

Vibrational and orientational dynamics of water in aqueous hydroxide solutions

We report the vibrational and orientational dynamics of water molecules in isotopically diluted NaOH and NaOD solutions using polarization-resolved femtosecond vibrational spectroscopy and terahertz time-domain dielectric relaxation measurements. We observe a speed-up of the vibrational relaxation of the O-D stretching vibration of HDO molecules outside the first hydration shell of OH(-) from 1.7 ± 0.2 ps for neat water to 1.0 ± 0.2 ps for a solution of 5 M NaOH in HDO:H(2)O. For the O-H vibration of HDO molecules outside the first hydration shell of OD(-), we observe a similar speed-up from 750 ± 50 fs to 600 ± 50 fs for a solution of 6 M NaOD in HDO:D(2)O. The acceleration of the decay is assigned to fluctuations in the energy levels of the HDO molecules due to charge transfer events and charge fluctuations. The reorientation dynamics of water molecules outside the first hydration shell are observed to show the same time constant of 2.5 ± 0.2 ps as in bulk liquid water, indicating that there is no long range effect of the hydroxide ion on the hydrogen-bond structure of liquid water. The terahertz dielectric relaxation experiments show that the transfer of the hydroxide ion through liquid water involves the simultaneous motion of ~7 surrounding water molecules, considerably less than previously reported for the proton.     

Molecular reorientation of liquid water studied with femtosecond midinfrared spectroscopy

The molecular reorientation of liquid water is key to the hydration and stabilization of molecules and ions in aqueous solution. A powerful technique to study this reorientation is to measure the time-dependent anisotropy of the excitation of the O-H/O-D stretch vibration of HDO dissolved in D2O/H2O using femtosecond midinfrared laser pulses. In this paper, we present and discuss experiments in which this technique is used to study the correlation between the molecular reorientation of the water molecules and the strength of the hydrogen-bond interactions. On short time scales (<200 fs), it was found that the anisotropy shows a partial decay due to librational motions of the water molecules that keep the hydrogen bond intact. On longer time scale (>200 fs), the anisotropy shows a complete decay with an average time constant of 2.5 ps. From the frequency dependence of the anisotropy dynamics, it follows that a subensemble of the water molecules shows a fast reorientation that is accompanied by a large change of the vibrational frequency. This finding agrees with the molecular jumping mechanism for the reorientation of liquid water that has recently been proposed by Laage and Hynes.     

Electron detachment and relaxation of OH-(aq)

Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy is used to study the primary reaction dynamics of photoinduced electron detachment of the hydroxide ion in water, OH- (aq). The electron is detached by excitation of OH- (aq) to the charge-transfer-to-solvent (CTTS) state at 200 nm. The subsequent relaxation processes are probed in the spectral range from 193 to 800 nm with femtosecond time resolution. We determine both the time-dependent quantum yields of OH- (aq), OH(aq), and e-(aq), and we observe a transient spectral signature which is assigned to relaxation of hot (OH-)* ions formed via solvent-assisted conversion of the excited CTTS state to OH-. The primary quantum yield of OH(aq) is 65 +/- 5%, while recombination with e-(aq) reduces the yield to 34% after 5 ps and 12% after 200 ps. The yield of hot (OH-)* ions is 35 +/- 5%. Rotational anisotropy measurements of OH- (aq) and OH(aq) indicate a reorientation time for OH- (aq) of 1.9 ps, while no rotational anisotropy is resolved for the OH(aq) radical within our time resolution of 0.3 ps. This is consistent with the notion that OH(aq) radicals formed after electron detachment are only weakly bound to the hydrogen bond network of water. The assignment of the experimental data is supported by a series of electronic structure calculations of simple complexes of OH- (H(2)O)(n).     

Hydration Dynamics of Water near an Amphiphilic Model Peptide at Low Hydration Levels: A Dielectric Relaxation Study

A dielectric relaxation study of aqueous solutions of the amphiphilic model peptide N‐acetyl‐leucine amide (NALA) at 298 K over a wide range of hydration levels is presented. The experiments range from states where water builds up several hydration layers to states where single water molecules or small water clusters are shared by several NALA molecules. The dielectric spectra reveal two modes on the 10 and 100 ps timescales. These are largely broadened with regard to the Lorentzian shape caused by simple Debye‐type relaxation, and are well described by the Kohlrausch–Williams–Watts stretched exponential function. The fast mode is assigned to water reorientation comprising bulk water as well as hydration water. Even when all water molecules are in contact with the solute, this fast component is dominant, and its mean relaxation time is retarded by less than a factor of two relative to neat water. The amplitude of the slow process is far higher than expected for the dipolar reorientation of the solute. The observations are consistent with results from molecular dynamics simulations for a similar model peptide reported in the literature. They suggest that the slow relaxation mode is mainly founded in peptide–water dipolar couplings, with some additional contribution from slowly reorienting hydration water molecules. The results are discussed with regard to the hydration dynamics of proteins and the interpretation of dielectric spectra of protein solutions.     

Hydration and dynamic behavior of cyclodextrins in aqueous solution

The hydration state and dynamics of plain and chemically modified cyclodextrins (CDs) in aqueous solution were investigated by using dielectric relaxation measurements at 25 degrees C over a wide frequency range up to 20 GHz, which is the relaxation frequency of pure liquid water molecules. The obtained dielectric relaxation spectra were decomposed into two major and one minor relaxation modes with relaxation times of approximately 8.3, 20-25, and 1000-2500 ps, respectively, depending on the CD species. The two major modes, fast and medium, were attributed to a rotational relaxation process of water molecules belonging to the bulk (free) state and an exchange of water molecules hydrated to CDs owing to hydrogen bond formation. The hydration numbers of the CDs strongly depend on the number of hydroxy (OH) groups controlled by chemical modification such as methylation. Increasing the number of methoxy or 2-hydroxypropoxy groups increases the hydration number of CD molecules, and results in higher solubilities of the chemically modified CDs than those of the plain CDs. The minor, slow mode was assigned to overall rotational relaxation for CDs with finite permanent dipole moments, which also depends on the number of OH groups.     

High-resolution neutron-scattering study of slow dynamics of surface water molecules in zirconium oxide

We have performed a quasielastic neutron-scattering experiment on backscattering spectrometer with sub-mueV resolution to investigate the slow dynamics of surface water in zirconium oxide using the sample studied previously with a time-of-flight neutron spectrometer [E. Mamontov, J. Chem. Phys. 121, 9087 (2004)]. The backscattering measurements in the temperature range of 240-300 K have revealed a translational dynamics slower by another order of magnitude compared to the translational dynamics of the outer hydration layer observed in the time-of-flight experiment. The relaxation function of this slow motion is described by a stretched exponential with the stretch factors between 0.8 and 0.9, indicating a distribution of the relaxation times. The temperature dependence of the average residence time is non-Arrhenius, suggesting that the translational motion studied in this work is more complex than surface jump diffusion previously observed for the molecules of the outer hydration layer. The observed slow dynamics is ascribed to the molecules of the inner hydration layer that form more hydrogen bonds compared to the molecules of the outer hydration layer. Despite being slower by two orders of magnitude, the translational motion of the molecules of the inner hydration layer may have more in common with bulk water compared to the outer hydration layer, the dynamics of which is slower than that of bulk water by just one order of magnitude.     

Rotational reorientation dynamics of oxazine 750 in polar solvents

The rotational reorientation dynamics of oxazine 750 (OX750) in the first (with pump pulse at 660 nm) and a higher excited state (with pump pulse at 400 nm) in different polar solvents have been investigated using femtosecond time-resolved stimulated emission pumping fluorescence depletion (FS TR SEP FD) spectroscopy. In both excited states, three different anisotropy decay laws have been observed for OX750 in different solvents. Only in acetone and formamide could the anisotropy decays of OX750 be described by single-exponential functions, whereas the anisotropy decays have been found to exhibit biexponential behavior in other solvents. The slower anisotropy decay observed in all of the solvents has been assigned to the overall rotational relaxation of OX750 molecules, and a quantitative analysis of this time constant has been performed using the Stokes-Einstein-Debye hydrodynamic theory and the extended charge distribution model developed by Alavi and Waldeck. In both methanol and ethanol, a faster anisotropy decay on the order of picoseconds and a slower anisotropy decay on the hundreds of picoseconds time scale are observed. The most likely explanation for the faster anisotropy involves the rotation of the transition dipole moment in the excited state of OX750 resulting from the electron transfer (ET) reaction taking place from the alcoholic solvents to the OX750 chromophore. As a possible explanation, the wobbling-in-the-cone model has been used to analyze the biexponential anisotropy decays of OX750 in dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The observed faster anisotropy decays on the hundreds of femtoseconds time scale in DMF and DMSO are ascribed to the wobbling-in-the-cone motion of the ethyl group of OX750, which is sensitive to the strength of the hydrogen bond formed between the solvent and the protonation site of OX750.     

Structural inhomogeneity of interfacial water at lipid monolayers revealed by surface-specific vibrational pump-probe spectroscopy

We report vibrational lifetime measurements of the OH stretch vibration of interfacial water in contact with lipid monolayers, using time-resolved vibrational sum frequency (VSF) spectroscopy. The dynamics of water in contact with four different lipids are reported and are characterized by vibrational relaxation rates measured at 3200, 3300, 3400, and 3500 cm(-1). We observe that the water molecules with an OH frequency ranging from 3300 to 3500 cm(-1) all show vibrational relaxation with a time constant of T(1) = 180 ± 35 fs, similar to what is found for bulk water. Water molecules with OH groups near 3200 cm(-1) show distinctly faster relaxation dynamics, with T(1) < 80 fs. We successfully model the data by describing the interfacial water containing two distinct subensembles in which spectral diffusion is, respectively, rapid (3300-3500 cm(-1)) and absent (3200 cm(-1)). We discuss the potential biological implications of the presence of the strongly hydrogen-bonded, rapidly relaxing water molecules at 3200 cm(-1) that are decoupled from the bulk water system.     

Anomalous dielectric relaxation of water molecules at the surface of an aqueous micelle

Dielectric relaxation of aqueous solutions of micelles, proteins, and many complex systems shows an anomalous dispersion at frequencies intermediate between those corresponding to the rotational motion of bulk water and that of the organized assembly or macromolecule. The precise origin of this anomalous dispersion is not well-understood. In this work we employ large scale atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the dielectric relaxation (DR) of water molecules in an aqueous micellar solution of cesium pentadecafluorooctanoate. The simulations clearly show the presence of a slow component in the moment-moment time correlation function [PhiMW(t)] of water molecules, with a time constant of about 40 ps, in contrast to only 9 ps for bulk water. Interestingly, the orientational time correlation function [Cmu(t)] of individual water molecules at the surface exhibits a component with a time constant of about 19 ps. We show that these two time constants can be related by the well-known micro-macrorelations of statistical mechanics. In addition, the reorientation of surface water molecules exhibits a very slow component that decays with a time constant of about 500 ps. An analysis of hydrogen bond lifetime and of the rotational relaxation in the coordinate frame fixed on the micellar body seems to suggest that the 500 ps component owes its origin to the existence of an extended hydrogen bond network of water molecules at the surface. However, this ultraslow component is not found in the total moment-moment time correlation function of water molecules in the solution. The slow DR of hydration water is found to be well correlated with the slow solvation dynamics of cesium ions at the water-micelle interface.     

Influence of concentration and temperature on the dynamics of water in the hydrophobic hydration shell of tetramethylurea

We study the influence of the amphipilic compound tetramethylurea (TMU) on the dynamical properties of water, using dielectric relaxation spectroscopy in the regime between 0.2 GHz and 2 THz. This technique is capable of resolving different water species, their relative fractions, and their corresponding reorientation dynamics. We find that the reorientation dynamics of water molecules in the hydration shell of the hydrophobic groups of TMU is between 3 (at low concentrations) and 10 (at higher concentrations) times slower than the dynamics of bulk water. The data indicate that the effect of hydrophobic groups on water is strong but relatively short-ranged. With increasing temperature, the fraction of water contained in the hydrophobic hydration shell decreases, which implies that the overall effect of hydrophobic groups on water becomes smaller.     

Picosecond IR-UV pump-probe spectroscopic study on the vibrational energy flow in isolated molecules and clusters

Intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) and vibrational predissociation (VP) from the XH stretching vibrations, where X refers to O or C atom, of aromatic molecules and their hydrogen(H)-bonded clusters are investigated by picosecond time-resolved IR-UV pump probe spectroscopy in a supersonic beam. For bare molecules, we mainly focus on IVR of the OH stretch of phenol. We describe the IVR of the OH stretch by a two-step tier model and examine the effect of the anharmonic coupling strength and the density of states on IVR rate and mechanism by using isotope substitution. In the H-bonded clusters of phenol, we show that the relaxation of the OH stretching vibration can be described by a stepwise process and then discuss which process is sensitive to the H-bonding strength. We discuss the difference/similarity of IVR/VP between the "donor" and the "acceptor" sites in phenol-ethylene cluster by exciting the CH stretch vibrations. Finally, we study the vibrational energy transfer in the isolated molecules having the alkyl chain, namely phenylalcanol (PA). In this system, we measure the rate constant of the vibrational energy transfer between the OH stretch and the vibrations of benzene ring which are connected at the both ends of the alkyl chain. This energy transfer can be called "through-bond IVR". We investigate the three factors which are thought to control the energy transfer rate; (1) "OH <--> next CH(2)" coupling, (2) chain length and (3) conformation. We discuss the energy transfer mechanism in PAs by examining these factors.     

Structure and dynamics of water confined in dimethyl sulfoxide.

We study the structure and dynamics of hydrogen-bonded complexes of H2O/D2O and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) by infrared spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy and ab initio calculations. We find that single water molecules occur in two configurations. For one half of the water monomers both OH/OD groups form strong hydrogen bonds to DMSO molecules, whereas for the other half only one of the two OH/OD groups is hydrogen-bonded to a solvent molecule. The H-bond strength between water and DMSO is in the order of that in bulk water. NMR deuteron relaxation rates and calculated deuteron quadrupole coupling constants yield rotational correlation times of water. The molecular reorientation of water monomers in DMSO is two-and-a-half times slower than in bulk water. This result can be explained by local structure behavior.     

Broadband dielectric investigation on poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) and its water mixtures

Broadband dielectric spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry measurements have been performed to study the molecular dynamics poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) and its water solutions in a wide range of concentrations (0 wt %20 wt % suggesting that this dynamical process is dominated by water-water interactions. In addition, the temperature dependence of the water relaxation times exhibits a crossover from non-Arrhenius to Arrhenius behavior during cooling throughout the glass transition range, which has been interpreted as due to the constrains imposed by the rigid polymer matrix on the water molecules dynamics.     

Ultrafast vibrational energy relaxation of the water bridge

We report the energy relaxation of the OH stretch vibration of HDO molecules contained in an HDO:D(2)O water bridge using femtosecond mid-infrared pump-probe spectroscopy. We found that the vibrational lifetime is shorter (~630 ± 50 fs) than for HDO molecules in bulk HDO:D(2)O (~740 ± 40 fs). In contrast, the thermalization dynamics following the vibrational relaxation are much slower (~1.5 ± 0.4 ps) than in bulk HDO:D(2)O (~250 ± 90 fs). These differences in energy relaxation dynamics strongly indicate that the water bridge and bulk water differ on a molecular scale.     

Ultrafast 2D IR anisotropy of water reveals reorientation during hydrogen-bond switching

Rearrangements of the hydrogen bond network of liquid water are believed to involve rapid and concerted hydrogen bond switching events, during which a hydrogen bond donor molecule undergoes large angle molecular reorientation as it exchanges hydrogen bonding partners. To test this picture of hydrogen bond dynamics, we have performed ultrafast 2D IR spectral anisotropy measurements on the OH stretching vibration of HOD in D(2)O to directly track the reorientation of water molecules as they change hydrogen bonding environments. Interpretation of the experimental data is assisted by modeling drawn from molecular dynamics simulations, and we quantify the degree of molecular rotation on changing local hydrogen bonding environment using restricted rotation models. From the inertial 2D anisotropy decay, we find that water molecules initiating from a strained configuration and relaxing to a stable configuration are characterized by a distribution of angles, with an average reorientation half-angle of 10°, implying an average reorientation for a full switch of ≥20°. These results provide evidence that water hydrogen bond network connectivity switches through concerted motions involving large angle molecular reorientation.