The state of water and hydrated ions at interfaces

Lower consolute boundaries of the nonionic surfactant C8E5 in aqueous alkali halide solutions: An approach to reproduce the effects of alkali halides on the cloud-point temperature

In the temperature-composition phase diagram of the nonionic surfactant n-octyl-hydroxypenta(oxyethylene), C(8)E(5), there are three principal curves; the one for the critical micelle concentration (cmc), the one delineating the existence of the hexagonal phase, and then the lower consolute boundary (lcb). In this work it is clarified how the presence of the alkali halides NaF, LiCl, NaCl, NaBr and NaI in the aqueous solutions, up to high molalities, change the lcb temperature-position and shape. The lcbs are obtained from measurements of cloud-point temperatures. Rather marked anion-controlled shifts are observed in the boundary temperature-position, and the order of the anions is in accordance with the prediction of the Hofmeister series. Also the shape of the boundary is affected in an anion-specific way, so that the largest changes are found with the strongest salting-out agent. The separation point varies in distinctly non-linear manners with the molality of the studied alkali halides. An approach is presented that can reproduce the effects of the alkali halides on the cloud-point temperature of C(8)E(5) and a poly(ethylene oxide) polymer, at low amounts of the macroentities. In this approach use is made of the known behaviour of the electrolytes at the air/water surface and the virial expansion, to account for the initial salting-out/-in effect and the variation of the effect with electrolyte molality.

On the nature of ions at the liquid water surface

A qualitatively new understanding of the nature of ions at the liquid water surface is emerging. Traditionally, the characterization of liquid surfaces has been limited to macroscopic experimental techniques such as surface tension and electrostatic potential measurements, wherein the microscopic picture then has to be inferred by applying theoretical models. Because the surface tension of electrolyte solutions generally increases with ion concentration, all inorganic ions have been thought to be repelled from the air-water interface, leaving the outermost surface layer essentially devoid of ions. This oversimplified picture has recently been challenged: first by chemical kinetics measurements, then by theoretical molecular dynamics simulations using polarizable models, and most recently by new surface sensitive experimental observations. Here we present an overview of the nature of the interfacial structure of electrolyte solutions and give a detailed description of the new picture that is emerging.

Computation of methodology-independent ionic solvation free energies from molecular simulations. II. The hydration free energy of the sodium cation

The raw ionic solvation free energies computed from atomistic (explicit-solvent) simulations are extremely sensitive to the boundary conditions (finite or periodic system, system shape, and size) and treatment of electrostatic interactions (Coulombic, lattice sum, or cutoff based) used during these simulations. In the present article, it is shown that correction terms can be derived for the effect of (A) an incorrect solvent polarization around the ion due to the use of an approximate (not strictly Coulombic) electrostatic scheme; (B) the finite size or artificial periodicity of the simulated system; (C) an improper summation scheme to evaluate the potential at the ion site and the possible presence of a liquid-vacuum interface in the simulated system. Taking the hydration free energy of the sodium cation as a test case, it is shown that the raw solvation free energies obtained using seven different types of boundary conditions and electrostatic schemes commonly used in explicit-solvent simulations (for a total of 72 simulations differing in the corresponding simulation parameters) can be corrected so as to obtain a consistent value for this quantity.

pH-Dependent force spectroscopy of tri(ethylene glycol)- and methyl-terminated self-assembled monolayers adsorbed on gold

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of methoxy-tri(ethylene glycol)- (EG(3)-OMe) and methyl-terminated alkanethiols (C(16)) adsorbed on polycrystalline gold were investigated by chemical force spectroscopy. Measurements were performed in aqueous electrolyte solutions depending on ionic strength and pH value. Charged and hydrophobic tips were employed as probes to mimic local patches of proteins and to study the interaction at the organic/liquid interface in detail. Force-distance curves reveal information about the origin of the observed interaction and the underlying mechanisms. The measurements confirm an effective negative surface charge to be present at the oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) and the methyl interface and suggest that the charges are due to the adsorption of hydroxyl ions from aqueous solution. pH-dependent measurements further support the robustness of the established charge associated with the OEG films. Its sign does not change over the whole range of investigated values between pH approximately 3.5 and approximately 10. In contrast, the hydrophobic self-assembled hexadecanethiol films on gold show an isoelectric point (IEP) around pH 4. While the mechanism of charge establishment appears to be similar for both SA films, the strength of hydrogen bonding to interfacial water, which acts as a template for hydroxyl ion adsorption, is likely to be responsible for the observed difference.

High-performance liquid chromatography of amino acids, peptides and proteins. LXXXVII. Comparison of retention and bandwidth properties of proteins eluted by gradient and isocratic anion-exchange chromatography

The high-performance ion-exchange gradient-elution behaviour of a range of globular proteins has been investigated, using a strong anion exchanger as the stationary phase and sodium chloride as the displacer salt. Deviations were observed between the Zc values obtained from isocratic experiments and from gradient experiments with varied gradient time and varied flow-rate. These results indicate that theoretical treatments which relate gradient and isocratic elution processes do not adequately describe the retention behaviour of protein solutes separated by ion-exchange methods. Furthermore, the experimentally observed bandwidths deviated significantly from values predicted on the basis of plate theory for low-molecular-weight molecules. The significance of these results is discussed in terms of the influence of experimental parameters on the ability of particular electrostatically interactive areas on the surface of protein solutes to control the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of these polyelectrolyte molecules during ion-exchange chromatographic processes.

High-performance liquid chromatography of amino acids, peptides and proteins. LXXXVI. The influence of different displacer salts on the retention and bandwidth properties of proteins separated by isocratic anion-exchange chromatography

The influence of different displacer salts on the retention behaviour of seven globular proteins ranging in molecular weight from 12,000 to 69,000 was investigated using the Mono Q anion-exchange resin as the stationary phase. Isocratic retention data were collected using several different alkali metal halides as the displacing salt, thereby systematically varying the anion and cation species in the series F-, Cl- and Br- and Li+, Na+ and K+. The different anions were found to reduce protein retention in order of their decreasing hydrated ionic radii. Protein Zc values were found to be lower for fluoride and bromide than for chloride. It was demonstrated that the cationic co-ions also influence solute retention properties with this anion-exchange resin through, inter alia, preferential interactions with the protein solute. Protein band-broadening was found to systematically vary with the choice of displacer salt. These changes were related to known Hofmeister effects on protein aggregation kinetics and solubility and the degree of ion penetration at the double layer of the stationary phase-mobile phase interface. These studies now provide a rapid comparative basis for evaluating the mechanism of co- and counter-ion interactions with proteins in high-performance ion-exchange chromatographic systems.

The Hofmeister effect and the behaviour of water at interfaces

Starting from known properties of non-specific salt effects on the surface tension at an air-water interface, we propose the first general, detailed qualitative molecular mechanism for the origins of ion-specific (Hofmeister) effects on the surface potential difference at an air-water interface; this mechanism suggests a simple model for the behaviour of water at all interfaces (including water-solute interfaces), regardless of whether the non-aqueous component is neutral or charged, polar or non-polar. Specifically, water near an isolated interface is conceptually divided into three layers, each layer being I water-molecule thick. We propose that the solute determines the behaviour of the adjacent first interfacial water layer (I1); that the bulk solution determines the behaviour of the third interfacial water layer (I3), and that both I1 and I3 compete for hydrogen-bonding interactions with the intervening water layer (I2), which can be thought of as a transition layer. The model requires that a polar kosmotrope (polar water-structure maker) interact with I1 more strongly than would bulk water in its place; that a chaotrope (water-structure breaker) interact with I1 somewhat less strongly than would bulk water in its place; and that a non-polar kosmotrope (non-polar water-structure maker) interact with I1 much less strongly than would bulk water in its place. We introduce two simple new postulates to describe the behaviour of I1 water molecules in aqueous solution. The first, the 'relative competition' postulate, states that an I1 water molecule, in maximizing its free energy (--delta G), will favour those of its highly directional polar (hydrogen-bonding) interactions with its immediate neighbours for which the maximum pairwise enthalpy of interaction (--delta H) is greatest; that is, it will favour the strongest interactions. We describe such behaviour as 'compliant', since an I1 water molecule will continually adjust its position to maximize these strong interactions. Its behaviour towards its remaining immediate neighbours, with whom it interacts relatively weakly (but still favourably), we describe as 'recalcitrant', since it will be unable to adjust its position to maximize simultaneously these interactions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)