Confusing cause and effect: energy-entropy compensation in the preferential solvation of a nonpolar solute in dimethyl sulfoxide/water mixtures

We performed molecular simulations to analyze the thermodynamics of methane solvation in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/water mixtures (298 K, 1 atm). Two contributions to the interaction thermodynamics are studied separately: (i) the introduction of solute-solvent interactions (primary contribution) and (ii) the solute-induced disruption of cohesive solvent-solvent interactions (secondary contribution). The energy and entropy changes of the secondary contribution always exactly cancel in the free energy (energy-entropy compensation), hence only the primary contribution is important for understanding changes of the free energy. We analyze the physical significance of the solute-solvent energy and solute-solvent entropy associated with the primary contribution and discuss how to obtain these quantities from experiments combining solvation thermodynamic and solvent equation of state data. We show that the secondary contribution dominates changes in the methane solvation entropy and enthalpy: below 30 mol % DMSO in the mixture, methane, because of more favorable dispersion interactions with DMSO molecules, preferentially attracts DMSO molecules, which, in response, release water molecules into the bulk, causing an increase in the entropy. This large energy-entropy compensating process easily causes a confusion in the cause for and the effect of preferred methane-DMSO interactions. Methane-DMSO dispersion interactions are the cause, and the entropy change is the effect. Procedures that infer thermodynamic driving forces from analyses of the solvation entropies and enthalpies should therefore be used with caution.     

Effects of solvation on partition and dimerization of benzoic acid in mixed solvent systems

The partition of benzoic acid between 0.1M perchloric acid solution and two kinds of mixed solvents has been carried out at 25 degrees C. The partition and dimerization constants of benzoic acid have been determined in the 1-octanol-benzene and 2-octanone-benzene systems. In both the mixed solvent systems, with increasing content of 1-octanol and 2-octanone in each mixed solvent, the partition constant of benzoic acid has been found to increase, and the dimerization constant of benzoic acid in each organic phase to decrease. These phenomena are attributable to solvation of monomeric benzoic acid by 1-octanol and 2-octanone molecules in each mixed solvent.     

Self-assembly does not account for the hydrophobic effect

Marmur has claimed that large values of activity coefficients for nonelectrolytes, particularly in the context of hydrophobic interactions between solutes in aqueous solution at ambient temperature and pressure, cannot be accounted for by thermodynamics, and has suggested that association (self-assembly) of solute molecules in solution solves this dilemma. We show that the analysis of Marmur is incorrect, specifically because the equilibrium in solution between monomeric solute molecules and associated solute molecules is entirely ignored. We show further that activity coefficients such as that for nitromethane solute in hexane solvent, 39.7, and that for solute hexane in solvent water, 4.48 x 10(5), can be calculated as 31.9 and 4.71 x 10(5), respectively, by methods based on well-known molecule-molecule interactions. No assumption of self-assembly is required.     

Theoretical Study of the Dimerization of Chlorophyll (a) and Its Hydrates: Implication for Chlorophyll (a) Aggregation

Dimeric structures chlorophyll (a) (Chla) and their mono‐ and dihydrated have been suggested to play an important role in the mechanism of photoreaction center chlorophyll special pairs PSI and PSII. Despite their functional importance, the molecular basis structures for interacting two Chla molecules and the structural stabilization role of H₂O in the formation of hydrated Chla dimer complexes is poorly understood. In this article, the different coordination modes between two interacting Chla molecules and the configurational (orientation and distance) features between the dimer and bound H₂O molecules are characterized by means of super molecule approach the density functional theory DFT. An estimation of the thermodynamic quantities is made for Chla dimerization and hydration processes. The results indicate that structure including ester linkages via H₂O hydrogen bonding is the most favorable conformation for the dihydrated chlorophyll (a) dimer at B3LYP/6‐31G*‐DCP level of calculation. The dispersion interaction is shown to be of great significance for the Chla dimer stabilization. In aqueous nonpolar solvent, the thermodynamics show that Chla has a slightly stronger driving force for full hydration than for dimerization and that hydration of the dimers is rather weakly exergonic. The tetrahydrated dimers having a similar arrangement to that in crystals of ethyl chlorophyllide (a) dihydrate are found to be more stable than the Chla dihydrated dimer. The data underscore the key role of H‐bonding in the stability of Chla‐H₂O adducts and, in particular, the great importance of the Chla monomeric dihydrated species in the hydration and dimerization of Chla in aqueous media. Clearly, the Chla dihydrates (Chla‐2 H₂O) are found more stable than the monohydrates (Chla‐H₂O) and the Chla dimers (Chla₂), owing to a particular structure in which cooperative interactions occur between the H₂O molecules and Chla. Calculations also indicate that the most thermodynamically preferred pathway for the formation of Chla dimer hydrates can be represented by two steps: the first corresponds to the formation of Chla monomeric dihydrates and the second is the dimerization of the dihydrates on to tetrahydrated Chla dimers. These results allow to obtain a new possible pathway for Chla dimer formation processes and could provide new insights to the aggregation of chlorophyll (a) in solution.     

A molecular-dynamics simulation study of solvent-induced repulsion between C60 fullerenes in water

Molecular-dynamics simulations of a single C(60) fullerene and pairs of C(60) fullerenes in aqueous solution have been performed for the purpose of obtaining improved understanding of the nature of solvent-induced interactions between C(60) fullerenes in water. Our simulations reveal repulsive solvent-induced interactions between two C(60) fullerenes in aqueous solution in contrast to the associative effects observed for conventional nonpolar solutes. A decomposition of the solvent-induced potential of mean force between fullerenes into entropy and energy (enthalpy) contributions reveals that the water-induced repulsion between fullerenes is energetic in origin, contrasting strongly to entropy-driven association observed for conventional nonpolar solutes. The dominance of energy in the solvent-induced interactions between C(60) fullerenes arises primarily from the high atomic density of the C(60) molecule, resulting in strong C(60)-water van der Waals attraction that is reduced upon association of the fullerenes. The water-induced repulsion is found to decrease with increasing temperature due largely to an increasing contribution from a relatively weak entropy-driven association.     

Theoretical comparison of ketene dimerization in the gas and liquid phase

We present the first theoretical comparison between ketene dimerization in gas phase and ketene dimerization in solution. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the ketene dimerization were carried out considering the following product dimers: diketene (d-I), 1,3-cyclobutanedione (d-II), 2,4-dimethylene-1,3-dioxetane (d-III), and 2-methyleneoxetan-3-one (d-IV). All structures were optimized at the PW86x+PBEc/DZP level of theory. Based on these geometries, a total of 58 meta and hybrid functionals were used to evaluate the heat of dimerization. The MPW1K functional was found to fit the experimental data best and subsequently used in the final analyses for all energy calculations. It was found on both kinetic and thermodynamic grounds that only d-I and d-II are formed during ketene dimerization in gas phase and solution. In gas phase, d-I is favored over d-II by 2 kcal/mol. However, the dimerization barrier for d-I is 1 kcal/mol higher than for d-II. Solvation makes dimerization more favorable. On the enthalpic surface this is due to a favorable interaction between the dimer dipole moment and solvent molecules. The dimer is stabilized further on the Gibbs energy surface by an increase of the dimerization entropy in solution compared to gas phase. The species d-I remains the most stable dimer in solution by 1 kcal/mol. Kinetically, the dimerization barriers for the relevant species d-I and d-II are cut in half by solvation, due to both favorable dimer-dipole/solvent interactions (DeltaH++, DeltaG++) and an increase in the activation entropies (DeltaS++). While the dimerization barrier for d-II is lowest for the gas phase and toluene, the barrier for d-I formation becomes lowest for the more polar solvent acetone by 1 kcal/mol as d-I dimerization has the most polar transition state.     

Benchmarking the thermodynamic analysis of water molecules around a model beta sheet

Water molecules play a vital role in biological and engineered systems by controlling intermolecular interactions in the aqueous phase. Inhomogeneous fluid solvation theory provides a method to quantify solvent thermodynamics from molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo simulations and provides an insight into intermolecular interactions. In this study, simulations of TIP4P‐2005 and TIP5P‐Ewald water molecules around a model beta sheet are used to investigate the orientational correlations and predicted thermodynamic properties of water molecules at a protein surface. This allows the method to be benchmarked and provides information about the effect of a protein on the thermodynamics of nearby water molecules. The results show that the enthalpy converges with relatively little sampling, but the entropy and thus the free energy require considerably more sampling to converge. The two water models yield a very similar pattern of hydration sites, and these hydration sites have very similar thermodynamic properties, despite notable differences in their orientational preferences. The results also predict that a protein surface affects the free energy of water molecules to a distance of approximately 4.0 Å, which is in line with previous work. In addition, all hydration sites have a favorable free energy with respect to bulk water, but only when the water–water entropy term is included. A new technique for calculating this term is presented and its use is expected to be very important in accurately calculating solvent thermodynamics for quantitative application. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

低密度溶液中溶剂的重组织性质

分析了溶液的微观结构,结果表明,单个溶质粒子影响其周围的溶剂的结构,溶质粒子间的相互作用也将影响溶剂的结构,溶质对溶剂结构的影响称作溶剂的重组织.提出了二阶重组织能及二阶重组织熵等概念,可以描述在两个溶质粒子发生碰撞时对其周围溶剂结构的影响.利用二元系的集团展开理论,给出了溶剂的一阶、二阶重组织能和重组织熵的表达式.统计热力学分析给出了溶剂-溶剂径向分布函数与溶质和溶剂化学势之间的关系,给出了无限稀溶液模型是否成立的宏观判据.提出的理论可用于低密度的二元溶液.     

Revisiting the carboxylic acid dimers in aqueous solution: interplay of hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interactions, and entropy

Carboxylic acid dimers are useful model systems for understanding the interplay of hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic effects, and entropy in self-association and assembly. Through extensive sampling with a classical force field and careful free energy analysis, it is demonstrated that both hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions are indeed important for dimerization of carboxylic acids (except formic acid). The dimers are only weakly ordered, and the degree of ordering increases with stronger hydrophobic interactions between longer alkyl chains. Comparison of calculated and experimental dimerization constants reveals a systematic tendency for excessive self-aggregation in current classical force fields. Qualitative and quantitative information on the thermodynamics of hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions derived from these simulations is in excellent agreement with existing results from experiment and theory. These results provide a verification from first principles of previous estimations based on two statistical mechanical hydrophobic theories. We also revisit and clarify the fundamental statistical thermodynamics formalism for calculating absolute binding constants, external entropy, and solvation entropy changes upon association from detailed free energy simulations. This analysis is believed to be useful for a wide range of applications including computational studies of protein-ligand and protein-protein binding.     

Van der Waals interactions dominate ligand-protein association in a protein binding site occluded from solvent water

In the present study we examine the enthalpy of binding of 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine (IBMP) to the mouse major urinary protein (MUP), using a combination of isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), NMR, X-ray crystallography, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, and site-directed mutagenesis. Global thermodynamics data derived from ITC indicate that binding is driven by favorable enthalpic contributions, rather than a classical entropy-driven signature that might be expected given that the binding pocket of MUP-1 is very hydrophobic. The only ligand-protein hydrogen bond is formed between the side-chain hydroxyl of Tyr120 and the ring nitrogen of the ligand in the wild-type protein. ITC measurements on the binding of IBMP to the Y120F mutant demonstrate a reduced enthalpy of binding, but nonetheless binding is still enthalpy dominated. A combination of solvent isotopic substitution ITC measurements and all-atom molecular dynamics simulations with explicit inclusion of solvent water suggests that solvation is not a major contributor to the overall binding enthalpy. Moreover, hydrogen/deuterium exchange measurements suggest that there is no significant contribution to the enthalpy of binding derived from "tightening" of the protein structure. Data are consistent with binding thermodynamics dominated by favorable dispersion interactions, arising from the inequality of solvent-solute dispersion interactions before complexation versus solute-solute dispersion interactions after complexation, by virtue of poor solvation of the binding pocket.     

Neutral carbene analogues of group 13 elements: the dimerization reaction to a biradicaloid

The dimerization reactions of the neutral carbene analogues with the group 13 elements boron, aluminum, gallium, and indium are studied. Besides boron, all monomeric species possess singlet ground states. For Al, bulky substituted cases were investigated; they reveal no essential changes in the singlet-triplet energy separations compared with the parent species. The dimerization energies increase with an increase in the bulk of the substituents; this is a consequence of an enhancement of van der Waals forces for association. The latter is opposed by entropic forces, which facilitate dissociation. An equilibrium between monomeric and dimeric structures is predicted because of enthalpy versus entropy control. The low-temperature domain association should prevail in the formation of a dimer with Al (Ga) within the formal oxidation state I+. The Al-Al bond refers to a chelated biradicaloid species with an energetically low-lying triplet state. It emerges from the metal-metal contacts in the dimer. The biradical character of the dimer decreases in the order E = Al ? Ga > In. The carbene analogue of In forms upon dimerization of only weak coordinative metal-metal interactions.     

Thermodynamics of Interaction between Some Cellulose Ethers and SDS by Titration Microcalorimetry

The interaction between certain nonionic cellulose ethers (ethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose) and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) has been investigated using isothermal titration microcalorimetry at temperatures between 25-50 degrees C. The observed heat flow curves have been interpreted in terms of a plausible mechanism of the interaction of the substituent groups with SDS monomers and clusters. The data have been related to changes occuring in the system at the macro- and microscopic levels with the addition of surfactants and with temperature. The process consists predominantly of polymer-surfactant interactions initially and surfactant-surfactant interactions at the later stages. A phenomenological model of the cooperative interaction (adsorption) process has been derived, and earlier published equilibrium binding data have been used to recover binding constants and Gibbs energy changes for this process. The adsorption enthalpies and entropies have been recovered along with the heat capacity change. The enthalpic cost of confining the nonpolar regions of the polymers in surfactant clusters is high, but the entropy gain from release of hydration shell water molecules as well as increased freedom of movement of these nonpolar regions in the clusters gives the process a strong entropic driving force. The process is entropy-driven initially and converts to being both enthalpy and entropy-driven at high SDS concentrations. An enthalpy-entropy compensation behavior is seen. Strongly negative heat capacity changes have been obtained resulting from the transfer of nonpolar groups from aqueous into nonpolar environments, as well as a reduction of conformational domains that the chains can populate. Changes in these two components cause the heat capacity change to become less negative at the higher binding levels. The system can be classified as exhibiting nonclassical hydrophobic binding at the later stages of binding. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.     

Computational characterization and modeling of buckyball tweezers: density functional study of concave-convex pi...pi interactions

The geometries and binding energies of a recent buckyball tweezers (C(60)H(28)) and its supramolecular complexes are investigated using recently developed density functionals (M06-L and M06-2X) that include an accurate treatment of medium-range correlation energy. The pincer part of the tweezers, corannulene, has a strong attractive interaction with C(60). However, due to the entropy penalty, the calculated gas-phase free energy of association of the C(60)@corannulene supramolecule is positive 3.5 kcal mol(-1); and this entropy penalty explains why it is difficult to observe C(60)@corannulene supramolecule experimentally. By using a pi-extended tetrathiafulvalene (TTF), in particular 9,10-bis(1,3-dithiol-2-ylidene)-9,10-dihydroanthracene (TTFAQ or C(20)H(10)S(4)), as the pincer part, we modeled a new buckyball tweezers. The geometries and binding energies of the new buckyball tweezers and its supramolecular complexes are also calculated. Due to fact that the attractive interaction between TTFAQ and C(60) is weaker than that between corannulene and C(60), the gas-phase binding free energy in the C(60)@C(60)H (32)S(8) supramolecular complex is smaller than that in the C(60)@C(60)H(28) supramolecule. We also discuss solvent effects.     

Self-complementarity of oligo-2-aminopyridines: a new class of hydrogen-bonded ladders

A new class of hydrogen-bonded ladders based on hydrogen-bonded dimerization of oligo-alpha-aminopryidines has been demonstrated. Jorgensen's model can be successfully applied to this hydrogen-bonding system in nonpolar solvents. The results show the competitive enthalpy/entropy compensation relationship upon dimerization. Although increasing the number of hydrogen-bonding interactions would enhance the hydrogen-bonding stabilization enthalpy, this stabilization enthalpy per unit would be partially sacrificed to compensate for the entropy loss due to dimerization. These results clearly support the importance of preorganization in designing hydrogen-bonding guest-host molecules.     

The use of14C,59Fe and65Ni radionuclides for the study of solvent effects on the extraction equilibria with n-caprylic acid

The distribution of n-caprylic acid between an aqueous sodium sulphate solution and several organic diluents of various properties has been investigated, using¹⁴C-labelled n-caprylic acid. The distribution coefficients of the monomeric capyrlic acid and its dimerization constants in the organic phase were determined. The extraction of Fe(III) and Ni(II) with n-caprylic acid solutions in various diluents was studied using the AKUFVE solvent extraction equipment. The composition of the extracted compound of Fe(III) has been determined and the extraction constants for all the studied systems have been calculated. For the extraction of Ni(II) the constants of the extraction of nickel caprylate monomers and its dimerization constants in the organic phase have been calculated.     

Preparation,Spectroscopic Properties and Characterization of Oxovanadium(IV), Isothiocyanatomanganese(III), Cyanocobalt(III) and Cobalt(II) Complexes with a Bis-Crown Ether Tetraaza[14]Annulene

Oxovanadium(IV), isothiocyanatomanganese(III), cyanocobalt(III) and cobalt(II) complexes of tetraaza[14]annulene appended with two crown ethers at 2,3- and 11,12-positions have been prepared. Cation complexation behavior of these cavity-bearing tetraaza[14]annulene complexes has been investigated by optical absorption methods. The cation K + , which necessitates two crown ether cavities for complexation, induces dimerization of the tetraaza[14]annulene complexes, whereas the Na + does not. Formation of the sandwich complexes due to dimerization is hindered by the steric interactions involving the axial ligand as judged by the blue shift of the intense band around 385-425 nm. Judging from its ESR spectrum, the cobalt(II) complex becomes a monomeric dioxygen complex of a 1 : 1 molar ratio in the presence of O 2 and pyridine at 77 K.     

Molecular dynamics study of the molecular weight dependence of surface tensions of normal alkanes and methyl methacrylate oligomers

Surface tensions (gamma) of normal alkanes and methyl methacrylate (MMA) oligomers at various molecular weights in the low molecular weight range were computed using a newly proposed molecular dynamics (MD) simulation strategy which was developed based on the definition of gamma = ( partial differential U/ partial differential sigma)n,V,S. The MD simulations, even with the use of a generic force field, reproduced the experimentally observed molecular weight dependence of gamma (i.e., gamma proportional Mn(-2/3), where Mn is the number-average molecular weight) for both series of oligomers. Analysis of the data reveals that solvent accessible surface area, one of the key input variables used for the calculation of gamma, exhibits an Mn(2/3) (rather than Mn(1)) dependence. The reason for such dependence is that solvent accessible surface area formed by the chainlike small molecules depends, to a larger extent, on their orientations rather than their size. However, this is not the case for high molecular weight molecules as solvent accessible surface area of such surfaces are determined by the orientations of their segments which are determined by the conformations of the molecules. This may explain why surface tension of polymers experimentally exhibits an Mn(-1) dependence. It is inferred that the corresponding molecular weight dependence of the entropy changes associated with molecules in the low and high molecular weight ranges would be different.     

Theoretical studies on the dimerization of substituted paraphenylenediamine radical cations

Organic radical cations form dicationic dimers in solution, observed experimentally as diamagnetic species in temperature-dependent EPR and low temperature UV/Vis spectroscopy. Dimerization of paraphenylenediamine, N,N-dimethyl-paraphenylenediamine and 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-paraphenylenediamine radical cation in ethanol/diethylether mixture was investigated theoretically according to geometry, energetics and UV/Vis spectroscopy. Density Functional Theory including dispersion correction describes stable dimers after geometry optimization with conductor-like screening model of solvation and inclusion of the counter-ion. Energy corrections were done on double-hybrid Density Functional Theory with perturbative second-order correlation (B2PLYP-D) including basis set superposition error (BSSE), and multireference M?ller-Plesset second-order perturbation theory method (MRMP2) based on complete active space method (CASSCF(2,2)) single point calculation, respectively. All three dication π-dimers exhibit long multicenter π-bonds around 2.9±0.1? with strongly interacting orbitals. Substitution with methyl groups does not influence the dimerization process substantially. Dispersion interaction and electrostatic attraction from counter-ion play an important role to stabilize the dication dimers in solution. Dispersion-corrected double hybrid functional B2PLYP-D and CASSCF(2,2) can describe the interaction energetics properly. Vertical excitations were computed with Tamm-Dancoff approximation for time-dependent Density Functional Theory (TDA-DFT) at the B3LYP level with the cc-pVTZ basis set including ethanol solvent molecules explicitly. A strong interaction of the counter-ion and the solvent ethanol with the monomeric species is observed, whereas in the dimers the strong interaction of both radical cation species is the dominating factor for the additional peak in UV/Vis spectra.     

Nonlinear dependence of the solubility of water in hydrocarbons on the molar volume of the hydrocarbon

The solubility of water in fifty hydrocarbon solvents at 20°C is estimated by means of the solubility equation derived from the thermodynamics of mobile order in H-bonded liquids. Neglecting the change in nonspecific cohesion forces, and assuming that water is primarily monomeric in solution, the prediction accounts for two main effects: the breaking of the H-bond network linking the water solute molecules together, and the entropy of exchange between water and solvent molecules in solution. The formation of a weak O–H ... hydrogen bond interaction is moreover taken into account according to whether the hydrocarbon is saturated or not. The overall predictive equation foresees a non-linear dependence of the water solubility on the molar volume of the hydrocarbon. Several rules are presented regarding the water solubility-hydrocarbon structure relationship.