Physical origin underlying the entropy loss upon hydrophobic hydration

Details Physical origin underlying the entropy loss upon hydrophobic hydration Physical origin underlying the entropy loss upon hydrophobic hydration

2012-02-06

arxiv.org/abs/1202.1228v1

Physics

Condensed Matter

Statistical Mechanics

Scientific paper

The hydrophobic effect (HE) is commonly associated with the demixing of oil and water at ambient conditions and plays the leading role in determining the structure and stability of biomolecular assembly in aqueous solutions. On the molecular scale HE has an entropic origin. It is believed that hydrophobic particles induce order in the surrounding water by reducing the volume of con- figuration space available for hydrogen bonding. Here we show with computer simulation results that this traditional picture is not correct. Analyzing collective fluctuations in water clusters we are able to provide a fundamentally new picture of HE based on pronounced many-body correlations affecting the switching of hydrogen bonds between molecules. These correlations emerge as a non-local compensation of reduced fluctuations of local electrostatic fields in the presence of an apolar solute.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Physical origin underlying the entropy loss upon hydrophobic hydration does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Physical origin underlying the entropy loss upon hydrophobic hydration, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Physical origin underlying the entropy loss upon hydrophobic hydration will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-119968