Correlation of water-chlorohydrocarbon mutual solubilities using a modified non-quadratic mixing rule and the Cubic-Two-State equation of state

The Cubic Two-State equation of state was employed to correlate the measured mutual solubilities of water and 23 chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs). Following the scheme framework laid out by Medeiros and Brindis-Flores, a nonquadratic Kabadi-Danner type mixing rule is used, where the water-water dispersive parameter is corrected due to the presence of a hydrophobic solute. The model’s three parameters were adjusted to correlate experimental binary liquid-liquid equilibrium data to relatively high accuracy. The observed minimum in CHC solubility in water near ambient conditions is reproduced reliably. Overall deviations from experimental data were 7.8% for CHC solubility in the aqueous phase and 13% for water solubility in the organic phase.

Universal nanodroplet branches from confining the Ouzo effect

We report the self-organization of universal branching patterns of oil nanodroplets under the Ouzo effect [Vitale S, Katz J (2003) Langmuir 19:4105–4110]—a phenomenon in which spontaneous droplet formation occurs upon dilution of an organic solution of oil with water. The mixing of the organic and aqueous phases is confined under a quasi-2D geometry. In a manner analogous to the ramification of ground stream networks [Devauchelle O, Petroff AP, Seybold HF, Rothman DH (2012) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109: 20832–20836 and Cohen Y, et al. (2015) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112:14132–14137] but on a scale 10 orders of magnitude smaller, the angles between the droplet branches are seen to exhibit remarkable universality, with a value around 74° ± 2°, independent of the various control parameters of the process. Numerical simulations reveal that these nanodroplet branching patterns are governed by the interplay between the local concentration gradient, diffusion, and collective interactions. We further demonstrate the ability of the local concentration gradient to drive autonomous motion of colloidal particles in the highly confined space, and the possibility of using the nucleated nanodroplets for nanoextraction of a hydrophobic solute. The understanding obtained from this work provides a basis for quantitatively understanding the complex dynamical aspects associated with the Ouzo effect. We expect that this will facilitate improved control in nanodroplet formation for many applications, spanning from the preparation of pharmaceutical polymeric carriers, to the formulation of cosmetics and insecticides, to the fabrication of nanostructured materials, to the concentration and separation of trace analytes in liquid–liquid microextraction.

Path integral-GC-AdResS simulation of a large hydrophobic solute in water: a tool to investigate the interplay between local microscopic structures and quantum delocalization of atoms in space

We perform large scale quantum (path integral) molecular dynamics simulations of a C60 -like molecule in water.

Origin of hydrophobicity and enhanced water hydrogen bond strength near purely hydrophobic solutes

Hydrophobicity plays an important role in numerous physicochemical processes from the process of dissolution in water to protein folding, but its origin at the fundamental level is still unclear. The classical view of hydrophobic hydration is that, in the presence of a hydrophobic solute, water forms transient microscopic “icebergs” arising from strengthened water hydrogen bonding, but there is no experimental evidence for enhanced hydrogen bonding and/or icebergs in such solutions. Here, we have used the redshifts and line shapes of the isotopically decoupled IR oxygen–deuterium (O-D) stretching mode of HDO water near small purely hydrophobic solutes (methane, ethane, krypton, and xenon) to study hydrophobicity at the most fundamental level. We present unequivocal and model-free experimental proof for the presence of strengthened water hydrogen bonds near four hydrophobic solutes, matching those in ice and clathrates. The water molecules involved in the enhanced hydrogen bonds display extensive structural ordering resembling that in clathrates. The number of ice-like hydrogen bonds is 10–15 per methane molecule. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations have confirmed that water molecules in the vicinity of methane form stronger, more numerous, and more tetrahedrally oriented hydrogen bonds than those in bulk water and that their mobility is restricted. We show the absence of intercalating water molecules that cause the electrostatic screening (shielding) of hydrogen bonds in bulk water as the critical element for the enhanced hydrogen bonding around a hydrophobic solute. Our results confirm the classical view of hydrophobic hydration.