Dynamics of Confined Reactive Water in Smectite Clay–Zeolite Composites

Theoretical simulations of structure and X-ray photoelectron spectra of glycine and diglycine adsorbed on Cu(110)

The study of adsorption of glycine and glycylglycine (or diglycine) on a copper surface is an important step for the comprehension of mechanisms that determine the stability of biological functionalizers on metal substrates. These two molecules can be considered as prototypes and essential models to investigate, theoretically and experimentally, the adaptability of flexible short peptide chains to a definite interface. In this work, we have improved and updated earlier molecular dynamics simulations by including reactivity of the various species and the comparison of ab initio calculated C, N, and O core photoelectron chemical shifts with the ones found in previous studies. New diglycine-copper bonding is predicted, and the results of the chemical shift analysis are, in all cases, fully compatible with structural information obtained through experimental measurements. Moreover, we have found that the process of proton transfer, which is fundamental in the dynamics of amino acids and peptides, occurs mainly by intermolecular interaction between the first and second layer of the adsorbate.

Simulation of Forces between Humid Amorphous Silica Surfaces: A Comparison of Empirical Atomistic Force Fields

Atmospheric humidity strongly influences the interactions between dry granular particles in process containers. To reduce the energy loss in industrial production processes caused by particle agglomeration, a basic understanding of the dependence of particle interactions on humidity is necessary. Hence, in this study, molecular dynamic simulations were carried out to calculate the adhesion between silica surfaces in the presence of adsorbed water. For a realistic description, the choice of force field is crucial. Because of their frequent use and transferability to biochemical systems, the Clay and CWCA force fields were investigated with respect to their ability to describe the water-silica interface in comparison to the more advanced Reax force field, ab initio calculations, and experiments.