Nonideality in diffusion of ionic and hydrophobic solutes and pair dynamics in water-acetone mixtures of varying composition

We have performed a series of molecular dynamics simulations of water-acetone mixtures containing either an ionic solute or a neutral hydrophobic solute to study the extent of nonideality in the dynamics of these solutes with variation of composition of the mixtures. The diffusion coefficients of the charged solutes, both cationic and anionic, are found to change nonmonotonically with the composition of the mixtures showing strong nonideality of their dynamics. Also, the extent of nonideality in the diffusion of these charged solutes is found to be similar to the nonideality that is observed for the diffusion and orientational relaxation of water and acetone molecules in these mixtures which show a somewhat similar changes in the solvation characteristics of charged and dipolar solutes with changes of composition of water-acetone mixtures. The diffusion of the hydrophobic solute, however, shows a monotonic increase with increase of acetone concentration showing its different solvation characteristics as compared to the charged and dipolar solutes. The links between the nonideality in diffusion and solvation structures are further confirmed through calculations of the relevant solute-solvent and solvent-solvent radial distribution functions for both ionic and hydrophobic solutes. We have also calculated various pair dynamical properties such as the relaxation of water-water and acetone-water hydrogen bonds and residence dynamics of water molecules in water and acetone hydration shells. The lifetimes of both water-water and acetone-water hydrogen bonds and also the residence times of water molecules are found to increase steadily with increase in acetone concentration. No maximum or minimum was found in the composition dependence of these pair dynamical quantities. The lifetimes of water-water hydrogen bonds are always found to be longer than that of acetone-water hydrogen bonds in these mixtures. The residence times of water molecules are also found to follow a similar trend.     

Nonideality in diffusion of ionic and neutral solutes and hydrogen bond dynamics in dimethyl sulfoxide-chloroform mixtures of varying composition

Molecular dynamics simulations of charged and neutral solutes in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-chloroform mixtures reveal pronounced nonideality in the solute diffusion with changes of composition of the mixtures. The diffusion coefficient of the anionic solute first decreases, passes through a minimum at DMSO mole fraction of about 0.50, and then increases to reach its value for pure DMSO. The diffusion coefficients of the cationic and neutral solutes are found to decrease with increase in DMSO content of the solvent mixture. The extent of nonideality in the diffusion and orientational relaxation of solvent molecules is found to be somewhat stronger than that in diffusion of the anionic solute in these mixtures. We have also calculated the relaxation of hydrogen bonds formed between DMSO and chloroform molecules. The lifetimes of DMSO-chloroform hydrogen bonds are found to increase monotonically with increase in DMSO concentration. The average number of hydrogen bonds and their average energies are also computed. It is found that an increase in DMSO concentration causes a decrease in the number of DMSO-chloroform hydrogen bonds per DMSO or chloroform molecules but increases the strength of these hydrogen bonds.     

Dynamics of water trapped between hydrophobic solutes

We describe the model dynamical behavior of the solvent between two nanoscopic hydrophobic solutes. The dynamics of the vicinal water in various sized traps is found to be significantly different from bulk behavior. We consider the dynamics at normal temperature and pressure at three intersolute distances corresponding to the three solvent separated minima in the free energy profile between the solutes with attractions. These three states correspond to one, two, and three intervening layers of water molecules. Results are obtained from a molecular dynamics simulation at constant temperature and pressure (NPT) ensemble. Translational diffusion of water molecules trapped between the two solutes has been analyzed from the velocity correlation function as well as from the mean square displacement of the water molecules. The rotational behavior has been analyzed through the reorientational dynamics of the dipole moment vector of the water molecule by calculating both first and second rank dipole-dipole correlation functions. Both the translational and reorientational mobilities of water are found to be much slower at the smaller separation and increases as the separation between solutes becomes larger. The occupation time distribution functions calculated from the trajectories also show that the relaxation is much slower for the smallest intersolute separation as compared to other wider separations. The sublinear trend in mean square displacement and the stretched exponential decay of the relaxation of dipolar correlation and occupation distribution function indicate that the dynamical behavior of water in the confined region between two large hydrophobic solutes departs from usual Brownian behavior. This behavior is reminiscent of the behavior of water in the vicinity of protein surface clefts or trapped between two domains of a protein.     

Liquid-vapor interfaces of water-acetonitrile mixtures of varying composition

Detailed molecular-dynamics simulations are carried out to investigate the equilibrium and dynamical properties of water-acetonitrile mixtures of varying composition. Altogether, we have simulated eight different systems of different concentrations of acetonitrile. The inhomogeneous density and anisotropic orientational profiles at interfaces, surface tension, and also the distribution of hydrogen bonds are calculated for both water and acetonitrile molecules. The dynamical aspects of the interfaces are investigated in terms of the anisotropic diffusion and dipole orientational relaxation of interfacial water and acetonitrile molecules. For both structural and dynamical properties, the behaviors of the interfaces are compared with those of the corresponding bulk phases. A comparison between the present theoretical results and experimental findings, wherever available, is also made to verify the usefulness of the molecular models employed in the present study for predicting interfacial properties.     

Physicochemical characterization of ion-exchange membranes in water-methanol mixtures

A complete physicochemical characterization of two ion-exchange membranes—CM2 and Nafion^®117—used in electrodialysis and in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) has been carried out. For each membrane, in different methanol-water mixtures—0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%—and at different temperatures (25.0; 40.0 et 55.0 °C), we have measured the variations of the geometrical dimensions, the proton electrical conductivity, the swelling rate and the amount of methanol in the membrane. The FTIR analysis of Nafion^®117 was performed at different methanol contents of the external solution.The results show that the CM2 membrane presents the best geometrical stability, and the lowest conductivity at any methanol content. At high methanol contents, Nafion^®117 is 10 times more conductive than the CM2 membrane. It was found that the methanol is absorbed more by Nafion^®117, and its effect is more noticeable on the microstructure of this membrane, under standard conditions. The high methanol permeability of these membranes, particularly of the Nafion^®117, induces bad cell efficiencies and lifetimes.     

The conductance of tetraethylammonium salts in water-methanol mixtures

Conductance measurements are reported for tetraethylammonium halide and perchlorate salts in water-methanol mixtures over the complete composition range at 25° C. Limiting conductances and association constants are evaluated together with the distance parameters. The maxima in the limiting ionic Walden products are considered in some detail. Ionic association is generally weak, and the lack of reliable correlation betweenK _A and the solvent dielectric properties supports the assumption of specific ion-solvent interaction.     

Preparation and characterization of polypyrrole-silica colloidal nanocomposites in water-methanol mixtures

The effect of methanol cosolvent on the synthesis of polypyrrole-silica colloidal nanocomposites using ultrafine silica sols in combination with both FeCl3 and APS oxidants has been investigated. Two protocols were evaluated: the addition of methanol to an aqueous silica sol and the addition of water to a methanolic silica sol. The latter protocol proved to be more robust, since it allowed colloidally stable dispersions to be prepared at higher methanol content (up to 50 vol% using the APS oxidant). This allowed greater control over the particle size of the nanocomposite particles. In general, the spectroscopic data, the particle size range, silica contents and electrical conductivities of these nanocomposites were similar to those reported earlier for purely aqueous formulations. Polypyrrole contents ranged from 49 to 71% by mass and particle diameters varied from around 160 to 360 nm. In terms of colloid stability, the APS oxidant was preferred for nanocomposite syntheses in the presence of methanol. However, the FeCl3 oxidant generally gave higher conductivities and narrower size distributions under comparable conditions. HF etching experiments combined with transmission electron microscopy studies indicated that, to a first approximation, these nanocomposite particles had core-shell morphologies, with a hydrophobic polypyrrole core and a hydrophilic silica shell that compose approximately one monolayer of silica sol particles. Finally, aqueous electrophoresis measurements suggested that the polypyrrole-silica nanocomposites were silica-rich and that the methanolic silica sol was more hydrophobic (lower surface charge density) than the aqueous silica sol.     

Time-resolved emission of flavin adenine dinucleotide in water and water-methanol mixtures

Time-resolved fluorescence decay of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) was studied at room temperature in water and water-methanol mixtures by a fluorescence upconversion technique. The observations were focused on the most initial decay phase (200 ps), before the residual fluorescence assumes a single exponential decay, typical for an extended conformation of the fluorophore. Within the first few picoseconds, where most of the electron transfer coupled quenching takes place, the emission decay curves could be fitted by a stretched exponent, compatible with the inhomogeneous distance dependent electron transfer model. This implies that the population of the excited FAD molecules exhibits a large number of non-identical states, each with its own separation between the donor (adenine) and acceptor (isoalloxazine) moieties, having its own rate of electron transfer. To evaluate the distribution of the separation between the donor-acceptor pair, we carried out molecular dynamics simulations of closed conformation of the FAD in water and water-methanol mixtures, sampling the structure at 10 fs intervals. The analysis of the dynamics reveals that within the 4 ps time frame, where most of the nonexponential fluorescence relaxation takes place, the relative motion of the donor-acceptor pair is consistent with a one-dimensional Brownian motion, where the diffusion coefficient and the shape of the confining potential well are solvent dependent. The presence of methanol enhances the diffusion constant and widens the width of the potential well. On the basis of these parameters, the relaxation dynamics was accurately reconstructed as an electron transfer reaction in an inhomogeneous system where the reactants are diffusing within the time frame of the observation.     

Enthalpies of solution of urea in water-methanol mixtures at 298.15 K

The standard enthalpies of solution of urea in water-methanol mixtures were determined over the entire range of solvent compositions at 298.15 K. A comparison of the results obtained with the published data on mixtures of water with ethanol and n-propanol revealed a differentiating effect of the alcohol concentration on the enthalpy of solution of urea. Only for water-methanol solutions, an increase in the alkanol content in the mixture (0.6 mole fractions < x ₂ < 1.0 mole fractions) caused an increase in the degree of solvation of urea.     

Interactions between hydrophobic and ionic solutes in aqueous guanidinium chloride and urea solutions: lessons for protein denaturation mechanism

In order to clarify the mechanism of denaturant-induced unfolding of proteins we have calculated the interactions between hydrophobic and ionic species in aqueous guanidinium chloride and urea solutions using molecular dynamics simulations. Hydrophobic association is not significantly changed in urea or guanidinium chloride solutions. The strength of interaction between ion pairs is greatly diminished by the guanidinium ion. Although the changes in electrostatic interactions in urea are small, examination of structures, using appropriate pair functions, of urea and water around the solutes show strong hydrogen bonding between urea's carbonyl oxygen and the positively charged solute. Our results strongly suggest protein denaturation occurs by the direct interaction model according to which the most commonly used denaturants unfold proteins by altering electrostatic interactions either by solvating the charged residues or by engaging in hydrogen bonds with the protein backbone. To further validate the direct interaction model we show that, in urea and guanidinium chloride solutions, unfolding of an unusually stable helix (H1) from mouse PrPC (residues 144-153) occurs by hydrogen bonding of denaturants to charged side chains and backbone carbonyl groups.     

Single particle and pair dynamics in water-formic acid mixtures containing ionic and neutral solutes: nonideality in dynamical properties

A series of molecular dynamics simulations of water-formic acid mixtures containing either an ionic solute or a neutral hydrophobic solute has been performed to study the extent of nonideality in the dynamics of these solutes for varying composition of the mixtures. The diffusion coefficients of the charged solutes, both cationic and anionic, are found to show nonideal behavior with variation of composition, and similar nonideality is also observed for the diffusion and orientational relaxation of solvent molecules in these mixtures. The diffusion coefficient of a neutral hydrophobic solute, however, decreases monotonically with increase in water concentration. We have also investigated some of the pair dynamical properties such as water-water and water-formic acid hydrogen bond relaxation and residence dynamics of water molecules in water and formic acid hydration shells. The lifetimes of water-water hydrogen bonds are found to be longer than those between formic acid carbonyl oxygen-water hydrogen bonds, whereas the lifetimes of formic acid hydroxyl hydrogen-water hydrogen bonds are longer than those of water-water hydrogen bonds. In general, the hydrogen bond lifetimes for both water-water and water-formic acid hydrogen bonds are found to decrease with increase in water concentration. Residence times of water molecules also show the same trend with increase in formic acid concentration. Interestingly, these pair dynamical properties show a monotonic dependence on composition without any maximum or minimum and behave almost ideally with respect to changes in the composition of the mixtures. The present calculations are performed with fixed-charge nonpolarizable models of the solvent and solute molecules without taking into account many-body polarization effects in an explicit manner.     

Competition of hydrophobic and Coulombic interactions between nanosized solutes

The solvation of charged, nanometer-sized spherical solutes in water, and the effective, solvent-induced force between two such solutes are investigated by constant temperature and pressure molecular dynamics simulations of model solutes carrying various charge patterns. The results for neutral solutes agree well with earlier findings, and with predictions of simple macroscopic considerations: substantial hydrophobic attraction may be traced back to strong depletion ("drying") of the solvent between the solutes. This hydrophobic attraction is strongly reduced when the solutes are uniformly charged, and the total force becomes repulsive at sufficiently high charge; there is a significant asymmetry between anionic and cationic solute pairs, the latter experiencing a lesser hydrophobic attraction. The situation becomes more complex when the solutes carry discrete (rather than uniform) charge patterns. Due to antagonistic effects of the resulting hydrophilic and hydrophobic "patches" on the solvent molecules, water is once more significantly depleted around the solutes, and the effective interaction reverts to being mainly attractive, despite the direct electrostatic repulsion between solutes. Examination of a highly coarse-grained configurational probability density shows that the relative orientation of the two solutes is very different in explicit solvent, compared to the prediction of the crude implicit solvent representation. The present study strongly suggests that a realistic modeling of the charge distribution on the surface of globular proteins, as well as the molecular treatment of water, are essential prerequisites for any reliable study of protein aggregation.     

Solvent extraction of ionic solutes in aqueous solutions

Extraction of ionic solutes in aqueous solutions into various organic solvents is reviewed by showing several examples. The extraction of strong acids into polar organic solvents and nonpolar solvents containing hydrogen-bonding extractants is described as the first example and the extraction of simple metal salts into strongly dielectric or solvating polarsolvents and nonpolar solvents containing solvating extractants is then reported. Finally, the solvent extraction of anionic metal complexes with bulky cations into nonpolar solvents as ion-paris is described and the statistical method for such extraction equilibria is considered.     

Chiral separability of hydrophobic boron cluster anions with native cyclodextrins in water-methanol background electrolytes

Cluster anions of boron are built up on three-center two-electron bonds in contrast to naturally occurring compounds and their synthetic analogs. Methanol works as a solvent and as a competing agent, which advantageously adjusts reasonable strength of their interaction with native CDs in water-organic BGE. The highest methanol concentration preserving chiral discrimination of atropoisomers of individual anions is approximately 35, 55 and 75% v/v for alpha-, beta- and gamma-CD, respectively. alpha-CD separates anionic 7, 8-nido-dicarbaundecaborate clusters with small exo-skeletal substituents. beta-CD separates anions of all four tested structural types. The efficiency of separation of a compound with alpha- or beta-CD is always markedly lower than the separation efficiency at the absence of a CD in BGE. The efficiency of separation of a compound with beta-CD is always lower than the efficiency of separation of the compound with alpha-CD. gamma-CD was proved to be unsuitable as a chiral selector because in BGEs with gamma-CD, effective mobilities of analytes as well as their differences continuously decrease. The decrease was ascribed to the decomposition of the gamma-CD. The assessment of analytical prospect of alpha- and beta-CDs as chiral selectors for chiral separations of boron cluster anions requires knowledge of stability of individual CDs at the conditions of analyses and recognition of the chance to eliminate low separation efficiency.     

Dissociation of 5-fluoro- and 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acids in water-methanol mixtures at 25 degrees

The association constants and molar conductivities, extrapolated to zero concentration, have been determined for 3,5-dinitrosalicylic and 5-fluorosalicylic acids in water-methanol mixtures at 25 degrees .     

On the mechanism of hydrophobic association of nanoscopic solutes

The hydration behavior of two planar nanoscopic hydrophobic solutes in liquid water at normal temperature and pressure is investigated by calculating the potential of mean force between them at constant pressure as a function of the solute-solvent interaction potential. The importance of the effect of weak attractive interactions between the solute atoms and the solvent on the hydration behavior is clearly demonstrated. We focus on the underlying mechanism behind the contrasting results obtained in various recent experimental and computational studies on water near hydrophobic solutes. The length scale where crossover from a solvent separated state to the contact pair state occurs is shown to depend on the solute sizes as well as on details of the solute-solvent interaction. We find the mechanism for attractive mean forces between the plates is very different depending on the nature of the solute-solvent interaction which has implications for the mechanism of the hydrophobic effect for biomolecules.     

The interaction of patterned solutes in binary solvent mixtures

Mean solute-solute forces and solute-induced solvent structure are investigated for pairs of chemically patterned (patched) solutes in binary mixtures near demixing coexistence. The isotropic and anisotropic hypernetted-chain integral equation theories as well as a superposition approximation are solved and compared. The patched solutes consist of one end that favors the majority species in the mixture while the other end favors the minority species. A wide range of patch sizes is considered. The isotropic and anisotropic theories are found to be in good agreement for most orientations, including the most attractive and most repulsive configurations. However, some differences arise for asymmetrical orientations where unlike ends of the solute particles face each other. In contrast, superposition often gives a rather poor approximation to the mean force, even though the results obtained for the solvent densities agree qualitatively with the anisotropic theory. The mean force is sensitive to small differences in the densities particularly near demixing. For patched solutes the influence of demixing-like behavior is evident both in the orientational dependence and in the range of the mean force acting between solutes.     

Effect of sugars on the solubility of hydrophobic solutes in water

It was found that the cosolvent effect of sugars on the solubilities of n-octanol, n-heptanol, and sodium dodecyl sulfate monomer in water depended on a set of factors that included molecular weight and concentration ofthe sugars, the kind of monosaccharides, the type of glycosidic linkages involved, and the temperature. All hexoses examined, D-glucose, D-galactose, and D-mannose, caused solubility depression of the hydrophobic solutes at low concentrations but to widely different extents. As the molecular weight of the sugar increased, the solubility depression was considerably lessened and further, as the concentration of the sugars increased, the solubility-increasing effect predominated leading to increased solubilities of the hydrophobic solutes relative of their solubility in pure water. The solubility-increasing effect was markedly enhanced at high temperatures. The free energy of the spontaneous transfer of octanol from water to the sugar solutions is entropic in nature and is attributed primarily to hydrophobic bond formation between the solute molecule and the hydrophobic surfaces of the sugar molecules.     

Nonpolar, polar, and associating solutes in ionic liquids

The existence of microphase segregation between polar and nonpolar domains in ionic liquids changes the way in which solvation can be understood in these media. Here, we perform a structural analysis on the solvation of nonpolar, polar, and associating solutes in imidazolium-based ionic liquids, where this novel way of understanding their nature as microsegregated solvents is correlated with their ability to interact with different species in diverse and complex ways.     

Insights into ion specificity in water-methanol mixtures via the reentrant behavior of polymer

In the present work, we have for the first time systematically investigated the ion specific reentrant behavior of poly(N-isopropylacryamide) (PNIPAM) in water-methanol mixtures. Turbidity measurements demonstrate that SCN(-) and ClO(4)(-) depress the reentrant transition, whereas other anions enhance the transition. As the anion changes from chaotropic to kosmotropic, the minimum critical phase transition temperature (T(min)) decreases and the corresponding volume fraction of methanol (X(M)) shifts to a larger value. Our results demonstrate that anion specificity is due to the anionic structure making/breaking effect on water/methanol complexes. Cations are found to have a lesser but still significant effect on the reentrant transition, and as T(min) decreases the corresponding X(M) also shifts to larger values as with the anions. Our studies show that cation specificity is induced by specific interactions between cations and PNIPAM chains. Furthermore, both anion and cation specificities are amplified as X(M) is increased due to the formation of additional water/methanol complexes. Calorimetry measurements demonstrate that the ion specificity is dominated by changes in entropy.