A set of molecular models for alkali and halide ions in aqueous solution

This work presents new molecular models for alkali and halide ions in aqueous solution. The force fields were parameterized with respect to the reduced liquid solution density at 293.15 K and 1 bar, considering all possible ion combinations simultaneously. The experimental target data are reproduced with a high accuracy over a wide range of salinity. The ion models predict structural properties of electrolyte solutions well, such as pair correlation functions and hydration numbers. The force fields provide good predictions of the properties studied here in combination with different models for water.     

Water Confined in the Local Field of Ions

Interionic distances are shorter in concentrated ionic solutions, thus instigating the interaction and overlap of hydration shells, as ions become separated by only one or two layers of water molecules. The simultaneous interaction of water with two oppositely charged ions has, so far, only been investigated by computer simulation studies, because the isolated vibrational spectroscopic signature of these molecules remains undetected. Our combined near‐infrared spectroscopic and molecular dynamics simulation studies of alkali halide solutions present a distinct spectral feature, which is highly responsive to depletion of bulk water and merging of hydration shells. The analysis of this spectral feature demonstrates that absorption trends are in good agreement with the law of matching affinities, thus providing the first successful vibrational spectroscopic treatment of this topic. Combined with commonly observed near‐infrared bands, this feature provides a spectral pattern that describes some relevant aspects of ionic hydration.     

Determination of alkali and halide monovalent ion parameters for use in explicitly solvated biomolecular simulations

Alkali (Li(+), Na(+), K(+), Rb(+), and Cs(+)) and halide (F(-), Cl(-), Br(-), and I(-)) ions play an important role in many biological phenomena, roles that range from stabilization of biomolecular structure, to influence on biomolecular dynamics, to key physiological influence on homeostasis and signaling. To properly model ionic interaction and stability in atomistic simulations of biomolecular structure, dynamics, folding, catalysis, and function, an accurate model or representation of the monovalent ions is critically necessary. A good model needs to simultaneously reproduce many properties of ions, including their structure, dynamics, solvation, and moreover both the interactions of these ions with each other in the crystal and in solution and the interactions of ions with other molecules. At present, the best force fields for biomolecules employ a simple additive, nonpolarizable, and pairwise potential for atomic interaction. In this work, we describe our efforts to build better models of the monovalent ions within the pairwise Coulombic and 6-12 Lennard-Jones framework, where the models are tuned to balance crystal and solution properties in Ewald simulations with specific choices of well-known water models. Although it has been clearly demonstrated that truly accurate treatments of ions will require inclusion of nonadditivity and polarizability (particularly with the anions) and ultimately even a quantum mechanical treatment, our goal was to simply push the limits of the additive treatments to see if a balanced model could be created. The applied methodology is general and can be extended to other ions and to polarizable force-field models. Our starting point centered on observations from long simulations of biomolecules in salt solution with the AMBER force fields where salt crystals formed well below their solubility limit. The likely cause of the artifact in the AMBER parameters relates to the naive mixing of the Smith and Dang chloride parameters with AMBER-adapted Aqvist cation parameters. To provide a more appropriate balance, we reoptimized the parameters of the Lennard-Jones potential for the ions and specific choices of water models. To validate and optimize the parameters, we calculated hydration free energies of the solvated ions and also lattice energies (LE) and lattice constants (LC) of alkali halide salt crystals. This is the first effort that systematically scans across the Lennard-Jones space (well depth and radius) while balancing ion properties like LE and LC across all pair combinations of the alkali ions and halide ions. The optimization across the entire monovalent series avoids systematic deviations. The ion parameters developed, optimized, and characterized were targeted for use with some of the most commonly used rigid and nonpolarizable water models, specifically TIP3P, TIP4P EW, and SPC/E. In addition to well reproducing the solution and crystal properties, the new ion parameters well reproduce binding energies of the ions to water and the radii of the first hydration shells.     

Solute size effects on the solvation structure and diffusion of ions in liquid methanol under normal and cold conditions

We have performed a series of molecular dynamics simulations of alkali metal (Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+, and Cs+) and halide (F-, Cl-, Br-, and I-) ions in liquid methanol at two different temperatures to investigate the effects of ion size on the hydration structure and diffusion of ions in methanol under normal and cold conditions. Simulations are also carried out for some of the larger cations such as I+, (CH3)4N+, and (C2H5)4N+ and also neutral alkali metal atoms in methanol at both temperatures. With the increase of ion size, the diffusion coefficients of both positive and negative ions are found to show anomalous behavior. For cations, it is found that the maximum of the diffusion coefficient versus ion size curve occurs at the rather large cation of (CH3)4N+ unlike in water where the maximum occurs at the relatively smaller ion of Rb+. For halide ions, the anomalous behavior, i.e., the increase of diffusion with ion size, continues up to iodide ion and no maximum is observed. These results are in good agreement with experimental observations. The diffusion coefficients of neutral atoms are found to be greater in methanol than that in water and they decrease monotonically with solute size, whereas the diffusion coefficients of the corresponding ions are found to be smaller in methanol. Accordingly, an ion experiences a smaller Stokes friction and a higher dielectric friction in methanol than in water. These contrasting effects are believed to be responsible for the shift of the maximum of ion diffusion toward a larger ion size when compared with similar anomalous size dependence in liquid water.     

Crystal lattice properties fully determine short-range interaction parameters for alkali and halide ions

Accurate models of alkali and halide ions in aqueous solution are necessary for computer simulations of a broad variety of systems. Previous efforts to develop ion force fields have generally focused on reproducing experimental measurements of aqueous solution properties such as hydration free energies and ion-water distribution functions. This dependency limits transferability of the resulting parameters because of the variety and known limitations of water models. We present a solvent-independent approach to calibrating ion parameters based exclusively on crystal lattice properties. Our procedure relies on minimization of lattice sums to calculate lattice energies and interionic distances instead of equilibrium ensemble simulations of dense fluids. The gain in computational efficiency enables simultaneous optimization of all parameters for Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+, Cs+, F-, Cl-, Br-, and I- subject to constraints that enforce consistency with periodic table trends. We demonstrate the method by presenting lattice-derived parameters for the primitive model and the Lennard-Jones model with Lorentz-Berthelot mixing rules. The resulting parameters successfully reproduce the lattice properties used to derive them and are free from the influence of any water model. To assess the transferability of the Lennard-Jones parameters to aqueous systems, we used them to estimate hydration free energies and found that the results were in quantitative agreement with experimentally measured values. These lattice-derived parameters are applicable in simulations where coupling of ion parameters to a particular solvent model is undesirable. The simplicity and low computational demands of the calibration procedure make it suitable for parametrization of crystallizable ions in a variety of force fields.     

Dynamical properties of the water molecules in the hydration shells of Fe(II) and Fe(III) ions: ab initio QM/MM molecular dynamics simulations

Dynamical properties, librational and vibrational motions of water molecules in the first and second hydration shells of the Fe(II) and Fe(III) ion were evaluated by means of velocity autocorrelation functions obtained by combined quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical molecular dynamics (QM/MM-MD) simulations. The frequencies of rotation around three principal axes and the frequencies of intramolecular vibration of the water molecules in the first hydration shells obtained from the simulations are blue-shifted for both ions compared to those observed experimentally for liquid water. The intramolecular geometry of water molecules in the quantum mechanically treated region (ion plus first hydration shell) shows shorter O–H bonds and wider H–O–H angles than the bulk solvent.     

Effect of ionic solutes on the hydrogen bond network dynamics of water: power spectral analysis of aqueous NaCl solutions

To understand the modifications of the hydrogen bond network of water by ionic solutes, power spectra as well as static distributions of the potential energies of tagged solvent molecules and solute ions have been computed from molecular dynamics simulations of aqueous NaCl solutions. The key power spectral features of interest are the presence of high-frequency peaks due to localized vibrational modes, the existence of a multiple time scale or 1/falpha frequency regime characteristic of networked liquids, and the frequency of crossover from 1/falpha type behavior to white noise. Hydrophilic solutes, such as the sodium cation and the chloride anion, are shown to mirror the multiple time scale behavior of the hydrogen bond network fluctuations, unlike hydrophobic solutes which display essentially white noise spectra. While the power spectra associated with tagged H2O molecules are not very sensitive to concentration in the intermediate frequency 1/falpha regime, the crossover to white noise is shifted to lower frequencies on going from pure solvent to aqueous alkali halide solutions. This suggests that new and relatively slow time scales enter the picture, possibly associated with processes such as migration of water molecules from the hydration shell to the bulk or conversion of contact ion pairs into solvent-separated ion pairs which translate into variations in equilibrium transport properties of salt solutions with concentration. For anions, cations, and solvent molecules, the trends in the alpha exponents of the multiple time scale region and the self-diffusivities are found to be strongly correlated.     

Formation and interaction of hydrated alkali metal ions at the graphite-water interface

Ion hydration at a solid surface ubiquitously exists in nature and plays important roles in many natural processes and technological applications. Aiming at obtaining a microscopic insight into the formation of such systems and interactions therein, we have investigated the hydration of alkali metal ions at a prototype surface-graphite (0001), using first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. At low water coverage, the alkali metal ions form two-dimensional hydration shells accommodating at most four (Li, Na) and three (K, Rb, Cs) waters in the first shell. These two-dimensional shells generally evolve into three-dimensional structures at higher water coverage, due to the competition between hydration and ion-surface interactions. Exceptionally K was found to reside at the graphite-water interface for water coverages up to bulk water limit, where it forms an "umbrellalike" surface hydration shell with an average water-ion-surface angle of 115 degrees . Interactions between the hydrated K and Na ions at the interface have also been studied. Water molecules seem to mediate an effective ion-ion interaction, which favors the aggregation of Na ions but prevents nucleation of K. These results agree with experimental observations in electron energy loss spectroscopy, desorption spectroscopy, and work function measurement. In addition, the sensitive dependence of charge transfer on dynamical structure evolution during the hydration process, implies the necessity to describe surface ion hydration from electronic structure calculations.     

A molecular dynamics study of alkaline earth metal-chloride complexation in aqueous solution

The relative stability of alkaline earth metals (M2+ = Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+, and Ba2+) and their chloride complexes in aqueous solution is examined through molecular dynamics simulations using a flexible SPC water model with an internally consistent set of metal ion force field parameters. For each metal-chloride ion pair in aqueous solution, the free energy profile was calculated via potential of mean force simulations. The simulations provide detailed thermodynamic information regarding the relative stability of the different types of metal-chloride pairs. The free energy profiles indicate that the preference for contact ion pair formation increases with ionic radius and is closely related to the metal hydration free energies. The water residence times within the first hydration shells are in agreement with residence times reported in other computational studies. Calculated association constants suggest an increase in metal-chloride complexation with increasing cation radii that is inconsistent with experimentally observed trends. Possible explanations for this discrepancy are discussed.     

Dynamics of H2O and Na+ in nafion membranes

We investigate the transport properties of a model of a hydrated Na-Nafion membrane using molecular dynamics simulations. The system consists of several Nafion chains forming a pore with the water and ions inside. At low water content, the hydrophilic domain is not continuous and diffusion is very slow. The diffusion coefficient of both water and Na+ increases with increasing hydration (more strongly so for Na+). The simulations are in qualitative agreement with experimental results for similar systems. The diffusion coefficient is an average over the motion of ions or water molecules located in different environments. To better understand the role of the environment, we calculate the distribution of the residence times of the ion (or water) at different locations in the system. We discuss the transport mechanism in light of this information.     

Quantifying barriers to monovalent anion transport in narrow non-polar pores

The transport of anionic drinking water contaminants (fluoride, chloride, nitrate and nitrite) through narrow pores ranging in effective radius from 2.5 to 6.5 ? was systematically evaluated using molecular dynamics simulations to elucidate the magnitude and origin of energetic barriers encountered in nanofiltration. Free energy profiles for ion transport through the pores show that energy barriers depend on pore size and ion properties and that there are three key regimes that affect transport. The first is where the ion can fit in the pore with its full inner hydration shell, the second is where the pore size is between the bare ion and hydrated radius, and the third is where the ion size approaches that of the pore. Energy barriers in the first regime are relatively small and due to rearrangement of the inner hydration shell and/or displacement of further hydration shells. Energy barriers in the second regime are due to partial dehydration and are larger than barriers seen in the first regime. In the third regime, the pore becomes too small for bare ions to fit regardless of hydration and thus energy barriers are very high. In the second regime where partial dehydration controls transport, the trend in the slopes of the change in energy barrier with pore size corresponds to the hydration strength of the anions.     

Electron binding energies of aqueous alkali and halide ions: EUV photoelectron spectroscopy of liquid solutions and combined ab initio and molecular dynamics calculations

Photoelectron spectroscopy combined with the liquid microjet technique enables the direct probing of the electronic structure of aqueous solutions. We report measured and calculated lowest vertical electron binding energies of aqueous alkali cations and halide anions. In some cases, ejection from deeper electronic levels of the solute could be observed. Electron binding energies of a given aqueous ion are found to be independent of the counterion and the salt concentration. The experimental results are complemented by ab initio calculations, at the MP2 and CCSD(T) level, of the ionization energies of these prototype ions in the aqueous phase. The solvent effect was accounted for in the electronic structure calculations in two ways. An explicit inclusion of discrete water molecules using a set of snapshots from an equilibrium classical molecular dynamics simulations and a fractional charge representation of solvent molecules give good results for halide ions. The electron binding energies of alkali cations computed with this approach tend to be overestimated. On the other hand, the polarizable continuum model, which strictly provides adiabatic binding energies, performs well for the alkali cations but fails for the halides. Photon energies in the experiment were in the EUV region (typically 100 eV) for which the technique is probing the top layers of the liquid sample. Hence, the reported energies of aqueous ions are closely connected with both structures and chemical reactivity at the liquid interface, for example, in atmospheric aerosol particles, as well as fundamental bulk solvation properties.     

Ion Interactions with the Carbon Nanotube Surface in Aqueous Solutions: Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms

We study the molecular mechanisms of alkali halide ion interactions with the single‐wall carbon nanotube surface in water by means of fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. We focus on the basic physical‐chemical principles of ion–nanotube interactions in aqueous solutions and discuss them in light of recent experimental findings on selective ion effects on carbon nanotubes.     

Dynamics of halide ion-water hydrogen bonds in aqueous solutions: dependence on ion size and temperature

We have carried out a series of molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the dynamics of X(-)-water (X = F, Cl, Br, and I) and water-water hydrogen bonds in aqueous alkali halide solutions at room temperature and also of Cl(-)-water and water-water hydrogen bonds at seven different temperatures ranging from 238 to 318 K. The hydrogen bonds are defined by using a set of configurational criteria with respect to the anion(oxygen)-oxygen and anion(oxygen)-hydrogen distances and the anion(oxygen)-oxygen-hydrogen angle for an anion(water)-water pair. The results of the hydrogen bond dynamics are obtained for two different cutoff values for the angular criterion. In both cases, similar dynamical behavior of the hydrogen bonds is found with respect to their dependence on ion size and temperature. The fluoride ion-water hydrogen bonds are found to break at a much slower rate than water-water hydrogen bonds, while the lifetimes of chloride and bromide ion-water hydrogen bonds are found to be shorter than those of fluoride ion-water ones but still longer than water-water hydrogen bonds. The short-time dynamics of iodide ion-water hydrogen bonds is found to be slightly faster, while its long-time dynamics is found to be slightly slower than the corresponding water-water hydrogen bond dynamics. Correlations of the observed dynamics of anion(water)-water hydrogen bonds with those of rotational and translational diffusion and residence times of water molecules in ion(water) hydration shells are also discussed. With variation of temperature, the lifetimes of both Cl(-)-water and water-water hydrogen bonds are found to show Arrhenius behavior with a slightly higher activation energy for the Cl(-)-water hydrogen bonds.     

Equatorial and apical solvent shells of the UO2 2+ ion

First principles molecular dynamics simulations of the hydration shells surrounding UO(2)(2+) ions are reported for temperatures near 300 K. Most of the simulations were done with 64 solvating water molecules (22 ps). Simulations with 122 water molecules (9 ps) were also carried out. The hydration structure predicted from the simulations was found to agree with very well-known results from x-ray data. The average U=O bond length was found to be 1.77 A. The first hydration shell contained five trigonally coordinated water molecules that were equatorially oriented about the O-U-O axis with the hydrogen atoms oriented away from the uranium atom. The five waters in the first shell were located at an average distance of 2.44 A (2.46 A, 122 water simulation). The second hydration shell was composed of distinct equatorial and apical regions resulting in a peak in the U-O radial distribution function at 4.59 A. The equatorial second shell contained ten water molecules hydrogen bonded to the five first shell molecules. Above and below the UO(2)(2+) ion, the water molecules were found to be significantly less structured. In these apical regions, water molecules were found to sporadically hydrogen bond to the oxygen atoms of the UO(2)(2+), oriented in such a way as to have their protons pointed toward the cation. While the number of apical waters varied greatly, an average of five to six waters was found in this region. Many water transfers into and out of the equatorial and apical second solvation shells were observed to occur on a picosecond time scale via dissociative mechanisms. Beyond these shells, the bonding pattern substantially returned to the tetrahedral structure of bulk water.     

The structure of aqueous sodium hydroxide solutions: a combined solution x-ray diffraction and simulation study

To determine the structure of aqueous sodium hydroxide solutions, results obtained from x-ray diffraction and computer simulation (molecular dynamics and Car-Parrinello) have been compared. The capabilities and limitations of the methods in describing the solution structure are discussed. For the solutions studied, diffraction methods were found to perform very well in describing the hydration spheres of the sodium ion and yield structural information on the anion's hydration structure. Classical molecular dynamics simulations were not able to correctly describe the bulk structure of these solutions. However, Car-Parrinello simulation proved to be a suitable tool in the detailed interpretation of the hydration sphere of ions and bulk structure of solutions. The results of Car-Parrinello simulations were compared with the findings of diffraction experiments.