Department of Applied Chemistry and Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo Shinjuku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
Materials Characterization Central Laboratory, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo Shinjuku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
J Phys Chem Lett. 2021 Jan 14;12(1):276-279. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c02646. Epub 2020 Dec 18.
The hydrophilic/hydrophobic interactions of water are important in biological and chemical self-assembly phenomena. Water clusters in hydrophobic environments exhibit a unique morphology. Their process of formation and nonpolar properties have been extensively studied, but no direct experimental evidence has been available until now. This study provides spectroscopic evidence for the transformation of water to nonpolar configuration via clustering. Although individual water molecules form hydrogen bonds with the hydroxyl protons of hexanol when codissolved in a nonpolar solvent (toluene-), the water clusters are comprised solely of hydrogen bonds between water molecules and do not form hydrogen bonds with the hydroxyl protons of hexanol. This behavior indicates that the water clusters are nonpolar rather than polar. This study reports the first example of nonpolar water configuration produced via a liquid-state clustering. This property is a common and important interfacial phenomenon of water in chemistry, biology, materials science, geology, and meteorology.
水的亲水/疏水相互作用在生物和化学自组装现象中很重要。在疏水环境中，水团簇表现出独特的形态。它们的形成过程和非极性性质已经得到了广泛的研究，但直到现在还没有直接的实验证据。本研究通过聚类提供了水转化为非极性结构的光谱证据。尽管当在非极性溶剂（甲苯）中共溶时，个别水分子与己醇的羟基质子形成氢键，但水团簇仅由水分子之间的氢键组成，并且不与己醇的羟基质子形成氢键。这种行为表明水团簇是非极性的而不是极性的。本研究报告了首例通过液态聚类产生的非极性水构型的例子。这种性质是水在化学、生物学、材料科学、地质学和气象学中的一个常见且重要的界面现象。
