Quantification of specific anion binding to non-ionic Triton X-100 micelles

Measuring anion binding at biomembrane interfaces

The quantification of anion binding by molecular receptors within lipid bilayers remains challenging. Here we measure anion binding in lipid bilayers by creating a fluorescent macrocycle featuring a strong sulfate affinity. We find the determinants of anion binding in lipid bilayers to be different from those expected that govern anion binding in solution. Charge-dense anions H₂PO₄^- and Cl^- that prevail in dimethyl sulfoxide fail to bind to the macrocycle in lipids. In stark contrast, ClO₄^- and I^- that hardly bind in dimethyl sulfoxide show surprisingly significant affinities for the macrocycle in lipids. We reveal a lipid bilayer anion binding principle that depends on anion polarisability and bilayer penetration depth of complexes leading to unexpected advantages of charge-diffuse anions. These insights enhance our understanding of how biological systems select anions and guide the design of functional molecular systems operating at biomembrane interfaces.

Surfactant Interactions with Protein-Coated Surfaces: Comparison between Colloidal and Macroscopically Flat Surfaces

Surface interactions with polymers or proteins are extensively studied in a range of industrial and biomedical applications to control surface modification, cleaning, or biofilm formation. In this study we compare surfactant interactions with protein-coated silica surfaces differing in the degree of curvature (macroscopically flat and colloidal nanometric spheres). The interaction with a flat surface was probed by means of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) while dynamic light scattering (DLS) was used to study the interaction with colloidal SiO₂ (radius 15 nm). First, the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with both SiO₂ surfaces to create a monolayer of coating protein was studied. Subsequently, the interaction of these BSA-coated surfaces with a non-ionic surfactant (a decanol ethoxylated with an average number of eight ethoxy groups) was investigated. A fair comparison between the results obtained by these two techniques on different geometries required the correction of SPR data for bound water and DLS results for particle curvature. Thus, the treated data have excellent quantitative agreement independently of the geometry of the surface suggesting the formation of multilayers of C₁₀PEG over the protein coating. The results also show a marked different affinity of the surfactant towards BSA when the protein is deposited on a flat surface or individually dissolved in solution.

Ion-specificity and surface water dynamics in protein solutions

Ion-specific effects at the protein surface are investigated here in light of the changes they infer to surface water dynamics, as observed by 1H NMR relaxation (at 20 MHz). Two well-known proteins, hen egg-white lysozyme (LZM) and bovine serum albumin (BSA), show qualitatively opposite trends in the transverse relaxation rate, R2(1H), along a series of different monovalent salt anions in the solution. Presence of salt ions increases R2(1H) in the case of lysozyme and diminishes it in the case of BSA. The effect magnifies for larger and more polarizable ions. The same contrasting effect between the two proteins is observed for protein-solvent proton exchange. This hints at subtle effects ion-binding might have on the accessibility of water surface sites on the protein. We suggest that the combination of the density of surface charge residues and surface roughness, at the atomic scale, dictates the response to the presence of salt ions and is proper to each protein. Further, a dramatic increase in R2(1H) is found to correlate closely with the formation of protein aggregates. The same ordering of salts in their ability to aggregate lysozyme, as seen previously by cloud point measurements, is reproduced here by R2(1H). 1H NMR relaxation data is supplemented by 35Cl and 14N NMR relaxation for selected salt ions to probe the ion-binding itself.

Ion pair and solvation dynamics of [Bmim][BF4 ] + water system

In this work, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate/water mixtures were analysed over the whole water composition (x_w ) in order to study the rotational and translational behaviour of the ions. We employed a multinuclear NMR approach to determine anion/cation/water diffusion coefficients and longitudinal relaxation rates at different water content. In neat ionic liquids (IL), the cation diffuses faster than the anion, and at low x_w , anions and cations share almost the same diffusion coefficient, but above a critical water concentration, the anion begins to diffuse faster than the cation. We identified this composition as approximately 10% x_w where the ions share the same diffusion coefficient. We found that the water at this composition seems to have a much more dramatic effect in the rotational diffusion of the anion that decreases substantially and approaches that of the anion in the diluted IL. Translational and rotational dynamics of the ions suggest that water is first incorporated in pockets in the nanostructure of the IL allowing the ions to maintain most of the cation/anion interactions present in neat IL but already disrupting some anion/cation interactions due to preferential interaction with the anion. HOESY and NOESY data show that water displays contacts both with the cation and the anion in a positive NOE regime in contrary to the negative regime found for the cation/anion and cation/cation cross-relaxation. This is in accordance with the high relative diffusion coefficient of water and suggests that water molecules can exchange between preferential location sites that allow water to maintain contacts both with the anion and cation.

The impact of alkanes on the structure of Triton X100 micelles

Here we investigate the structural evolution of TX100 micelles upon loading with several linear and cyclic alkanes by DLS, PGSE-NMR, 2D NOESY NMR, viscosity measurements, and molecular dynamic simulations.

Models and mechanisms of Hofmeister effects in electrolyte solutions, and colloid and protein systems revisited

Specific effects of electrolytes have posed a challenge since the 1880's. The pioneering work was that of Franz Hofmeister who studied specific salt induced protein precipitation. These effects are the rule rather the exception and are ubiquitous in chemistry and biology. Conventional electrostatic theories (Debye-Hückel, DLVO, etc.) cannot explain such effects. Over the past decades it has been recognised that additional quantum mechanical dispersion forces with associated hydration effects acting on ions are missing from theory. In parallel Collins has proposed a phenomenological set of rules (the law of matching water affinities, LMWA) which explain and bring to order the order of ion-ion and ion-surface site interactions at a qualitative level. The two approaches appear to conflict. Although the need for inclusion of quantum dispersion forces in one form or another is not questioned, the modelling has often been misleading and inappropriate. It does not properly describe the chemical nature (kosmotropic/chaotropic or hard/soft) of the interacting species. The success of the LMWA rules lies in the fact that they do. Here we point to the way that the two apparently opposing approaches might be reconciled. Notwithstanding, there are more challenges, which deal with the effect of dissolved gas and its connection to 'hydrophobic' interactions, the problem of water at different temperatures and 'water structure' in the presence of solutes. They take us to another dimension that requires the rebuilding of theoretical foundations.

Ions at hydrophobic interfaces

We review the present understanding of the behavior of ions at the air-water and oil-water interfaces. We argue that while the alkali metal cations remain strongly hydrated and are repelled from the hydrophobic surfaces, the anions must be classified into kosmotropes and chaotropes. The kosmotropes remain strongly hydrated in the vicinity of a hydrophobic surface, while the chaotropes lose their hydration shell and can become adsorbed to the interface. The mechanism of adsorption is still a subject of debate. Here, we argue that there are two driving forces for anionic adsorption: the hydrophobic cavitational energy and the interfacial electrostatic surface potential of water. While the cavitational contribution to ionic adsorption is now well accepted, the role of the electrostatic surface potential is much less clear. The difficulty is that even the sign of this potential is a subject of debate, with the ab initio and the classical force field simulations predicting electrostatic surface potentials of opposite sign. In this paper, we will argue that the strong anionic adsorption found in the polarizable force field simulations is the result of the artificial electrostatic surface potential present in the classical water models. We will show that if the adsorption of anions were as large as predicted by the polarizable force field simulations, the excess surface tension of the NaI solution would be strongly negative, contrary to the experimental measurements. While the large polarizability of heavy halides is a fundamental property and must be included in realistic modeling of the electrolyte solutions, we argue that the point charge water models, studied so far, are incompatible with the polarizable ionic force fields when the translational symmetry is broken. The goal for the future should be the development of water models with very low electrostatic surface potential. We believe that such water models will be compatible with the polarizable force fields, which can then be used to study the interaction of ions with hydrophobic surfaces and proteins.

Ion specificity and micellization of ionic surfactants: a Monte Carlo study

We developed a simulation method that allows us to calculate the critical micelle concentrations for ionic surfactants in the presence of different salts. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The simulations are performed on a simple cubic lattice. The anionic interactions with the alkyl chains are taken into account based on the previously developed theory of the interfacial tensions of hydrophobic interfaces: the kosmotropic anions do not interact with the hydrocarbon tails of ionic surfactants, while chaotropic anions interact with the alkyl chains through a dispersion potential proportional to the anionic polarizability.

A pheromone analogue affects the evaporation rate of (+)-disparlure in Lymantria dispar

BACKGROUND

The gypsy moth Lymantria dispar L. is a widespread pest that causes economic damage to cork oak forests. Females produce the sex pheromone (+)-(7R,8S)-epoxy-2-methyloctadecane, known as (+)-disparlure [(+)D], for long-distance attraction of conspecific males. A (+)D analogue, 2-decyl-1-oxaspiro[2.2]pentane (OXP-01), neither stimulating nor attractive by itself, causes short-time inhibition of male response in a 1:1 blend with (+)D. The authors investigated whether and how the biological activity of the natural pheromone is affected by OXP-01 on a long-time basis (up to 16 days), also by looking at possible physicochemical reciprocal interactions.

RESULTS

Blending of (+)D with OXP-01 decreased, under low evaporation rate, the pheromone effectiveness, as assessed by electroantennogram recordings. In male trappings, within the first 24 h, OXP-01 decreased and later enhanced the blend attractiveness, but only under high evaporation rate. Gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy indicates that quantitative retrieval of (+)D from blend cartridges is higher than for pure pheromone, and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements show that OXP-01 produces, possibly by Van der Waals interactions, a bimolecular entity with pheromone causing retention and lengthening of its attractiveness over time.

CONCLUSION

The biological and physicochemical interactions between (+)D and OXP-01 may provide valuable information for the optimisation of pheromone-based control strategies for gypsy moths.

From self-assembly fundamental knowledge to nanomedicine developments

This review highlights the key role of NMR techniques in demonstrating the molecular aspects of the self-assembly of surfactant molecules that nowadays constitute the basic knowledge which modern nanoscience relies on. The aim is to provide a tutorial overview. The story of a rigorous scientific approach to understand self-assembly in surfactant systems and biological membranes starts in the early seventies when the progresses of SAXRD and NMR technological facilities allowed to demonstrate the existence of ordered soft matter, and the validity of Tanford approach concerning self-assembly at a molecular level. Particularly, NMR quadrupolar splittings, NMR chemical shift anisotropy, and NMR relaxation of dipolar and quadrupolar nuclei in micellar solutions, microemulsions, and liquid crystals proved the existence of an ordered polar-apolar interface, on the NMR time scale. NMR data, rationalized in terms of the two-step model of relaxation, allowed to quantify the dynamic aspects of the supramolecular aggregates in different soft matter systems. In addition, NMR techniques allowed to obtain important information on counterion binding as well as on size of the aggregate through molecular self-diffusion. Indeed NMR self-diffusion proved without any doubt the existence of bicontinuous microemulsions and bicontinuous cubic liquid crystals, suggested by pioneering and brilliant interpretation of SAXRD investigations. Moreover, NMR self-diffusion played a fundamental role in the understanding of microemulsion and emulsion nanostructures, phase transitions in phase diagrams, and particularly percolation phenomena in microemulsions. Since the nineties, globalization of the knowledge along with many other technical facilities such as electron microscopy, particularly cryo-EM, produced huge progresses in surfactant and colloid science. Actually we refer to nanoscience: bottom up/top down strategies allow to build nanodevices with applications spanning from ICT to food technology. Developments in the applied fields have also been addressed by important progresses in theoretical skills aimed to understand intermolecular forces, and specific ion interactions. Nevertheless, this is still an open question. Our predictive ability has however increased, hence more ambitious targets can be planned. Nanomedicine represents a major challenging field with its main aims: targeted drug delivery, diagnostic, theranostics, tissue engineering, and personalized medicine. Few recent examples will be mentioned. Although the real applications of these systems still need major work, nevertheless new challenges are open, and perspectives based on integrated multidisciplinary approaches would enable both a deeper basic knowledge and the expected advances in biomedical field.