Temperature and structural changes of water clusters in vacuum due to evaporation

This paper presents a study on evaporation of pure water clusters. Molecular dynamics simulations between 20 ns and 3 micros of clusters ranging from 125 to 4096 molecules in vacuum were performed. Three different models (SPC, TIP4P, and TIP5P) were used to simulate water, starting at temperatures of 250, 275, and 300 K. We monitored the temperature, the number of hydrogen bonds, the tetrahedral order, the evaporation, the radial distribution functions, and the diffusion coefficients. The three models behave very similarly as far as temperature and evaporation are concerned. Clusters starting at a higher temperature show a higher initial evaporation rate and therefore reach the point where evaporation stop (around 240 K) sooner. The radius of the clusters is decreased by 0.16-0.22 nm after 0.5 micros (larger clusters tend to decrease their radius slightly more), which corresponds to around one evaporated molecule per nm(2). The cluster temperature seems to converge towards 215 K independent of cluster size, when starting at 275 K. We observe only small structural changes, but the clusters modeled by TIP5P show a larger percentage of molecules with low diffusion coefficient as t-->infinity, than those using the two other water models. TIP4P seems to be more structured and more hydrogen bonds are formed than in the other models as the temperature falls. The cooling rates are in good agreement with experimental results, and evaporation rates agree well with a phenomenological expression based on experimental observations.     

Preferential solvation in urea solutions at different concentrations: properties from simulation studies

We performed molecular dynamics simulations of urea solutions at different concentrations with two urea models (OPLS and KBFF) to examine the structures responsible for the thermodynamic solution properties. Our simulation results showed that hydrogen-bonding properties such as the average number of hydrogen bonds and their lifetime distributions were nearly constant at all concentrations between infinite dilution and the solubility limit. This implies that the characterization of urea-water solutions in the molarity concentration scale as nearly ideal is a result of facile local hydrogen bonding rather than a global property. Thus, urea concentration does not influence the local propensity for hydrogen bonds, only how they are satisfied. By comparison, the KBFF model of urea donated fewer hydrogen bonds than OPLS. We found that the KBFF urea model in TIP3P water better reproduced the experimental density and diffusion constant data. Preferential solvation analysis showed that there were weak urea-urea and water-water associations in OPLS solution at short distances, but there were no strong associations. We divided urea molecules into large, medium, and small clusters to examine fluctuation properties and found that any particular urea molecule did not stay in the same cluster for a long time. We found neither persistent nor large clusters.     

Computational study of structural and dynamical properties of formamide-water mixtures

A molecular dynamics simulation study of structural and dynamical properties in liquid mixtures of formamide and water is presented. Site-site radial pair distribution functions, local mole fractions, pair energy distributions, and tetrahedral orientational order are the quantities analyzed to investigate the local structure in the simulated mixtures, along with a review of the intermolecular structure in terms of the distribution of hydrogen bonds. Our results indicate that there is a substitution of formamide molecules by water in the hydrogen bonds and a formation of a common hydrogen bond network. By analyzing the extent of tetrahedral order in the liquid as a function of composition, it is observed that whereas the tetrahedral network of liquid water is progressively lost by increasing the formamide concentration, the water structure within the first coordination shell is preserved and somewhat enhanced. The hydrogen-bond mean lifetimes were estimated by performing a time integration of the autocorrelation functions of bond occupation numbers. The lifetimes associated with hydrogen bonds between water, formamide, and interspecies pairs are found to increase with increasing formamide concentration. The lifetimes of the water hydrogen bonds show the largest variations, supporting the picture of an enhancement of the water structure among the nearest neighbors within the first coordination shell. We have used two different force field models for water, SPC/E [J. C. Berendsen et al., J. Phys. Chem. 91, 6269 (1987)] and TIP4P/2005 [J. L. F. Abascal and C. Vega, J. Chem. Phys. 123, 234505 (2005)]. Our results for structural and dynamical properties yield very small differences between those models, the TIP4P/2005 predicting a slightly more structured liquid and, consequently, exhibiting a slightly slower translational and librational dynamics.     

单笼形水分子簇中心水分子对类型关系

随机产生单笼形水分子簇(H2O)n(n=8~36),经分类统计后发现,在笼形水分子簇中,其1221,1212,2121和2112四类氢键的个数与水分子和氢键总数之间有定量关系,且1212类氢键的个数与2121类的氢键始终相等.如果笼形水分子簇中某一类氢键数已知,则它的其余三类氢键的个数也随即确定.     

Development of an efficient geometry optimization method for water clusters

A geometry optimization method for water clusters (H(2)O)(n) was developed in the present study. The method was applied to the TIP3P and TIP4P water clusters in the range of n < or = 30, and the resulting structures were compared with the global-minimum structures in the literature (n < or = 25 for the TIP3P potential and n < or = 30 for the TIP4P potential). The method failed to reproduce the previously reported global minimum of the n = 24 TIP4P cluster. However, it was possible to find new global minima for the n = 24, 26-30 TIP3P cluster and the TIP4P clusters of 25, 28, 29, and 30 molecules.     

Sources of the deficiencies in the popular SPC/E and TIP3P models of water

Motivated by the results of Vega et al. [J. Phys. Condens. Matter 20, 153101 (2008)] about the phase diagram of water, and by the results of Kiss and Baranyai [J. Chem. Phys. 131, 204310 (2009)] about the properties of gas-phase clusters, we carried out a comparative study of the structure modeled by SPC∕E and TIP3P interactions in ambient liquid water. The gas-phase clusters of SPC∕E and TIP3P models show erroneous structures, while TIP4P-type models, either polarizable or not, provide qualitatively correct results. The trimers of SPC∕E and TIP3P are planar in gas phase, contrary to experimental and TIP4P-type models. The aim of this study was to see whether traces of these false geometries characteristic to SPC∕E and TIP3P in gas phase can also be found in the liquid phase. For this purpose we selected trimers formed by adjacent neighbors of water molecules in the liquid and calculated their geometrical features. We determined angles formed by the HO bonds of the molecules with OO vectors and with the normal vector of the OOO plane in the selected trimers. Our results showed that, despite high temperature, the SPC∕E and TIP3P water contains larger number of planar arrangements than other TIP4P-type models. Although structural differences presented in this study are small, they are accurately detectable. These results weaken the reliability of studies obtained by the SPC∕E or TIP3P models even in the liquid phase.     

Study of molecular behavior in a water nanocluster: size and temperature effect

Temperature and size effects on the behavior of nanoscale water molecule clusters are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The flexible three-centered (F3C) water potential is used to model the inter- and intramolecular interactions of the water molecule. The differences between the structural properties for the surface region and those for the interior region of the cluster are also investigated. It is found that as the temperature rises, the average number of hydrogen bonds per water molecule decreases, but the ratio of surface water molecules increases. After comparing the water densities in interior regions and the average number of hydrogen bonds in those regions, we find there is no apparent size effect on water molecules in the interior region, whereas the size of the water cluster has a significant influence on the behavior of water molecules at the surface region.     

Description of collective effects in computer models of water

The dynamics of a system containing 3456 water molecules in a cubic cell with periodic boundary conditions at 297 K was simulated. The time dependence of distances between oxygen atoms was examined for many pairs of molecules. These distances often oscillate around a certain average value over long periods of time (10 ps and longer). These average values can be about 2.8 Å (hydrogen bond) or much larger, up to 12–13 Å and more. This suggests that big groups of molecules are involved in a concerted motion. Lists of hydrogen bonds in 50 configurations divided by an interval of about 1 ps are compared. The average lifetime of a hydrogen bond is about 7 ps. The network of hydrogen bonds is colored according to their lifetimes for one of the configurations. The bonds that live longer than 7 ps form an infinite cluster. The bonds that live longer than 8 ps join to form a great number of finite clusters including several hundreds of nodes (molecules). These clusters contain few closed cycles. Even the bonds that live longer than 20 ps are united into clusters each containing two or three nodes (molecules). The self-diffusion coefficient for molecules involved in long-lived bonds is likely to be slightly smaller than that for molecules which do not participate in these bonds.     

The IR spectrum of supercritical water: Combined molecular dynamics/quantum mechanics strategy and force field for cluster sampling

Supercritical water was analyzed recently as a gas of small clusters of waters linked to each other by intermolecular hydrogen‐bonds, but unexpected “linear” conformations of clusters are required to reproduce the infra‐red (IR) spectra of the supercritical state. Aiming at a better understanding of clusters in supercritical water, this work presents a strategy combining classical molecular dynamics to explore the potential energy landscape of water clusters with quantum mechanical calculation of their IR spectra. For this purpose, we have developed an accurate and flexible force field of water based on the TIP5P 5‐site model. Water dimers and trimers obtained with this improved force field compare well with the quantum mechanically optimized clusters. Exploration by simulated annealing of the potential energy surface of the classical force field reveals a new trimer conformation whose IR response determined from quantum calculations could play a role in the IR spectra of supercritical water. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011     

Hydrogen-bond dynamics for water confined in carbon tetrachloride-acetone mixtures

In a variety of biological scenarios water is found trapped within hydrophobic environments (e.g., ion channels). Its behavior under such conditions is not well understood and therefore is attracting enormous scientific attention. It is of particular interest to understand how the confining environment affects both the structure and dynamics of water. Within this scenario, we report molecular dynamics simulation results for water trapped in a mixture of acetone and carbon tetrachloride whose composition mimics the one employed in recently reported experiments [Gilijamse, J. J.; et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2005, 102, 3202]. We show here that the water molecules dissolved in the carbon tetrachloride-acetone mixture assemble in clusters of varying sizes, that the longevity of hydrogen bonds between confined water molecules strongly depends on the cluster size, and that hydrogen bonds last longer for small water clusters in confined water than they do in bulk water. The simulated FT-IR spectra for the confined water are shifted at longer frequencies compared to those observed for bulk liquid water. We discuss the dependence of the FT-IR spectrum on the size of the water clusters dispersed in the carbon tetrachloride-acetone matrix. We also study in detail the rotational orientation of the dispersed water molecules, and we discuss how the composition of the organic matrix affects the results. By enhancing the interpretation of the experimental data, our results contribute to developing a molecular-based understanding of the relationship between environment and water properties.     

Dielectric properties of water clusters containing CO and NO molecules. Computational experiment

The absorption of CO and NO molecules by (H₂O)₂₀ clusters was studied by the method of molecular dynamics. In general, the clusters containing CO molecules are more stable mechanically, while the clusters with NO molecules are more stable against heating. The mobility of NO molecules in such clusters is higher than that of CO molecules. The total dipole moment, the static dielectric permeability, the number of active electrons in the clusters, and the specific number of hydrogen bonds between water molecules possess peak values when the number of doping molecules i = 6. IR absorption spectra mostly acquire a smooth shape at i > 6. Capture of CO and NO molecules by water cluster operates as anti-greenhouse effect.     

Development of non‐bonded interaction parameters between graphene and water using particle swarm optimization

New Lennard‐Jones parameters have been developed to describe the interactions between atomistic model of graphene, represented by REBO potential, and five commonly used all‐atom water models, namely SPC, SPC/E, SPC/Fw, SPC/Fd, and TIP3P/Fs by employing particle swarm optimization (PSO) method. These new parameters were optimized to reproduce the macroscopic contact angle of water on a graphene sheet. The calculated line tension was in the order of 10⁻¹¹ J/m for the droplets of all water models. Our molecular dynamics simulations indicate the preferential orientation of water molecules near graphene–water interface with one O H bond pointing toward the graphene surface. Detailed analysis of simulation trajectories reveals the presence of water molecules with ≤∼1, ∼2, and ∼4 hydrogen bonds at the surface of air–water interface, graphene–water interface, and bulk region of the water droplet, respectively. Presence of water molecules with ≤∼1 and ∼2 hydrogen bonds suggest the existence of water clusters of different sizes at these interfaces. The trends observed in the libration, bending, and stretching bands of the vibrational spectra are closely associated with these structural features of water. The inhomogeneity in hydrogen bond network of water at the air–water and graphene–water interface is manifested by broadening of the peaks in the libration band for water present at these interfaces. The stretching band for the molecules in water droplet shows a blue shift as compared to the pure bulk water, which conjecture the presence of weaker hydrogen bond network in a droplet. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Monte Carlo simulations of critical cluster sizes and nucleation rates of water

We have calculated the critical cluster sizes and homogeneous nucleation rates of water at temperatures and vapor densities corresponding to experiments by Wolk and Strey [J. Phys. Chem B 105, 11683 (2001)]. The calculations have been done with an expanded version of a Monte Carlo method originally developed by Vehkamaki and Ford [J. Chem. Phys. 112, 4193 (2000)]. Their method calculates the statistical growth and decay probabilities of molecular clusters. We have derived a connection between these probabilities and kinetic condensation and evaporation rates, and introduce a new way for the calculation of the work of formation of clusters. Three different interaction potential models of water have been used in the simulations. These include the unpolarizable SPC/E [J. Phys. Chem. 91, 6269 (1987)] and TIP4P [J. Chem. Phys. 79, 926 (1983)] models and a polarizable model by Guillot and Guissani [J. Chem. Phys. 114, 6720 (2001)]. We show that TIP4P produces critical cluster sizes and a temperature and vapor density dependence for the nucleation rate that agree well with the experimental data, although the magnitude of nucleation rate is constantly overestimated by a factor of 2 x 10(4). Guissani and Guillot's model is somewhat less successful, but both the TIP4P and Guillot and Guissani models are able to reproduce a much better experimental temperature dependency of the nucleation rate than the classical nucleation theory. Using SPC/E results in dramatically too small critical clusters and high nucleation rates. The water models give different average binding energies for clusters. We show that stronger binding between cluster molecules suppresses the decay probability of a cluster, while the growth probability is not affected. This explains the differences in results from different water models.     

水与乙醇分子在金管内吸附作用的分子动力学研究

使用分子动力学研究了乙醇与水分子在纳米金管内按照不同比例混合时的吸附现象,并利用径向密度分布函数及水和乙醇分子所形成的平均氢键数来探讨纳米限制效应.结果表明,径向密度分布函数和氢键数目受纳米金管影响较大.另外,水与金管之间的作用力比乙醇与金管之间的大,导致水分子形成的平均氢键数不同于乙醇分子的.     

Molecular dynamics simulation study of association in trifluoroethanol/water mixtures

Mixtures of Trifluoroethanol (TFE) and water with different proportions are studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The radial and spatial distribution functions, as well as the size distribution of TFE clusters are obtained from the trajectories. The variation of radial and spatial distribution functions with composition show that the addition of TFE enhances the water structure, but the hydrogen bonds between TFE molecules are broken as TFE is diluted with water. The TFE‐rich solutions have stronger TFE–water hydrogen bonds. The clustering of TFE molecules in low concentration region is attributed to the hydrophobic interactions between CF₃ groups. The distribution of cluster sizes in solution supports these conclusions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

Correlations in liquid water for the TIP3P-Ewald, TIP4P-2005, TIP5P-Ewald, and SWM4-NDP models

Water is one of the simplest molecules in existence, but also one of the most important in biological and engineered systems. However, understanding the structure and dynamics of liquid water remains a major scientific challenge. Molecular dynamics simulations of liquid water were performed using the water models TIP3P-Ewald, TIP4P-2005, TIP5P-Ewald, and SWM4-NDP to calculate the radial distribution functions (RDFs), the relative angular distributions, and the excess enthalpies, entropies, and free energies. In addition, lower-order approximations to the entropy were considered, identifying the fourth-order approximation as an excellent estimate of the full entropy. The second-order and third-order approximations are ~20% larger and smaller than the true entropy, respectively. All four models perform very well in predicting the radial distribution functions, with the TIP5P-Ewald model providing the best match to the experimental data. The models also perform well in predicting the excess entropy, enthalpy, and free energy of liquid water. The TIP4P-2005 and SWM4-NDP models are more accurate than the TIP3P-Ewald and TIP5P-Ewald models in this respect. However, the relative angular distribution functions of the four water models reveal notable differences. The TIP5P-Ewald model demonstrates an increased preference for water molecules to act both as tetrahedral hydrogen bond donors and acceptors, whereas the SWM4-NDP model demonstrates an increased preference for water molecules to act as planar hydrogen bond acceptors. These differences are not uncovered by analysis of the RDFs or the commonly employed tetrahedral order parameter. However, they are expected to be very important when considering water molecules around solutes and are thus a key consideration in modelling solvent entropy.     

Computer Simulation of the Absorption of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Molecules by Water Cluster: 2. The Microstructure

The simulation of the absorption of CO₂ molecules by the (H₂O)₁₀ cluster is performed by the molecular dynamics method using the modified TIP4P model of water. The detailed structure of (CO₂)_i(H₂O)₁₀ clusters (0≤i≤11) is analyzed by the statistic geometry method based on the construction of the Voronoi polyhedra. The obtained distributions of the geometric elements of polyhedra indicate the significant changes in the structure of a cluster after the absorption of one CO₂ molecule. Only polyhedra characterizing the structure of unstable water clusters that absorbed six or seven CO₂ molecules demonstrate a nonsphericity close to the ideal tetrahedron. Linear CO₂ molecule tends to be oriented in a cluster so that the average angle formed by this molecule and permanent dipole moments of water molecules would be equal to about 30°.__________Translated from Kolloidnyi Zhurnal, Vol. 67, No. 3, 2005, pp. 315–321.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Galashev, Rakhmanova, Chukanov.     

Structure and dynamics of methanol in water: a quantum mechanical charge field molecular dynamics study

An ab initio quantum mechanical charge field molecular dynamics simulation was carried out for one methanol molecule in water to analyze the structure and dynamics of hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups. It is found that water molecules around the methyl group form a cage-like structure whereas the hydroxyl group acts as both hydrogen bond donor and acceptor, thus forming several hydrogen bonds with water molecules. The dynamic analyses correlate well with the structural data, evaluated by means of radial distribution functions, angular distribution functions, and coordination number distributions. The overall ligand mean residence time, τ identifies the methanol molecule as structure maker. The relative dynamics data of hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl of methanol and water molecules prove the existence of both strong and weak hydrogen bonds. The results obtained from the simulation are in excellent agreement with the experimental results for dilute solution of CH(3)OH in water. The overall hydration shell of methanol consists in average of 18 water molecules out of which three are hydrogen bonded.     

Structural properties of water: comparison of the SPC, SPCE, TIP4P, and TIP5P models of water

Molecular-dynamics simulations were carried out for the SPC, SPCE, TIP4P, and TIP5P models of water at 298 K. From these results we determine the following quantities: the absolute entropy using the two-particle approximation, the mean lifetime of the hydrogen bond, the mean number of hydrogen bonds per molecule, and the mean energy of the hydrogen bond. From the entropy calculations we find that nearly all contributions to the total entropy originates from the orientation effects. Moreover, we determine the contributions to the total entropy which originate from the first, second, and higher solvation shells. It is interesting that the limits between solvation shells are clearly visible. The first solvation shell (0.22 < r < 0.36 nm) contributes approximately 43 J mol K to the total entropy; the second solvation shell (0.36 < r < 0.60 nm) contributes approximately 12 J mol K, while contributions from the third and other solvation shells are very small, approximately 2 J mol K in summary. This indicates that water molecules are strongly ordered up to 0.55-0.6 nm around the central water molecule, and beyond this limit the ordering diminishes. The results of calculations (entropy and hydrogen bonds) are compared with the experimental data for the choosing of the best water model. We find that the SPC and TIP4P models reproduce the best experimental values, and we recommend these models for computer simulations of the aqueous solution of biomolecules.     

Structural properties and thermodynamics of water clusters: a Wang-Landau study

The temperature dependence of structural properties and thermodynamic behavior of water clusters has been studied using Wang-Landau sampling. Four potential models, simple point charge/extended (SPC/E), transferable intermolecular potential 3 point (TIP3P), transferable intermolecular potential 4 point (TIP4P), and Gaussian charge polarizable (GCP), are compared for ground states and properties at finite temperatures. Although the hydrogen bond energy and the distance of the nearest-neighbor oxygen pair are significantly different for TIP4P and GCP models, they approach to similar ground state structures and melting transition temperatures in cluster sizes we considered. Comparing with TIP3P, SPC/E model provides properties closer to that of TIP4P and GCP.