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. 2023 May 4;127(17):3911-3918.
doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c00828. Epub 2023 Apr 21.

Acidic Conditions Impact Hydrophobe Transfer across the Oil-Water Interface in Unusual Ways

Affiliations

Acidic Conditions Impact Hydrophobe Transfer across the Oil-Water Interface in Unusual Ways

Sijia Chen et al. J Phys Chem B. .

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulation and enhanced free energy sampling are used to study hydrophobic solute transfer across the water-oil interface with explicit consideration of the effect of different electrolytes: hydronium cation (hydrated excess proton) and sodium cation, both with chloride counterions (i.e., dissociated acid and salt, HCl and NaCl). With the Multistate Empirical Valence Bond (MS-EVB) methodology, we find that, surprisingly, hydronium can to a certain degree stabilize the hydrophobic solute, neopentane, in the aqueous phase and including at the oil-water interface. At the same time, the sodium cation tends to "salt out" the hydrophobic solute in the expected fashion. When it comes to the solvation structure of the hydrophobic solute in the acidic conditions, hydronium shows an affinity to the hydrophobic solute, as suggested by the radial distribution functions (RDFs). Upon consideration of this interfacial effect, we find that the solvation structure of the hydrophobic solute varies at different distances from the oil-liquid interface due to a competition between the bulk oil phase and the hydrophobic solute phase. Together with an observed orientational preference of the hydroniums and the lifetime of water molecules in the first solvation shell of neopentane, we conclude that hydronium stabilizes to a certain degree the dispersal of neopentane in the aqueous phase and eliminates any salting out effect in the acid solution; i.e., the hydronium acts like a surfactant. The present molecular dynamics study provides new insight into the hydrophobic solute transfer across the water-oil interface process, including for acid and salt solutions.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representative MD simulation snapshots of the (a) acid and (b) salt systems when the neopentane molecule is in the bulk aqueous phase. The neopentane molecule and hydrated excess protons are represented, respectively, as licorice (with the carbon atoms colored cyan) and the hydronium cation oxygen atoms are colored orange. Na+ and Cl ions are depicted as purple and green spheres, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Potential of mean force (PMF) as a function of the distance from the Gibbs dividing interface (GDI) of water, zGDI, for acid solution (green curve), salt solution (orange curve), and water (blue curve) systems. The shadings denote the standard error. Negative values of zGDI correspond to the aqueous phase, while positive values correspond to the oil (cyclohexane) phase. Panels (a–c): Representative molecular dynamics simulation snapshots of the acid and salt systems when the neopentane molecule is in aqueous phases, interfacial regions, and oil phases as denoted by the black arrows in the upper figure. The neopentane molecules are represented as licorice along with the hydrated proton structures, for which the carbon atoms are colored cyan and the oxygen atoms are colored orange, while Na+ and Cl are depicted as purple and green spheres.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Original and (c) modified RDFs between the central carbon (CC) of the neopentane molecule and most probable hydronium oxygens (OH) in the acid system when the neopentane molecule is biased in different regions. The legends show the position where the neopentane molecule is biased relative to the GDI of water. (b) The density profile of the hydronium (blue line) in the acid system and the fitting curve (green line) using eq 1. The data between the two vertical dashed lines are used for the calculation of average hydronium density in the central aqueous phase.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Original RDFs between the central carbon (CC) of the neopentane molecule and Na+ cations in the salt system when the neopentane molecule is biased in different regions. The legends show the position where the neopentane molecule is biased relative to the GDI of water. (b) The density profile of Na+ cations (blue line) in the salt system and the average Na+ density (orange line) in the bulk water region.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Illustration of the definition of the relative orientation of the hydrated excess proton with respect to neopentane. (b) Probability distribution profiles of the relative orientation between hydrated excess protons and neopentane, as a function of the distance between the central carbon (CC) atom of the neopentane molecule and the most probable hydronium oxygens (OH) in the acid system.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Average lifetime of water molecules in the first solvation shell of neopentane as a function of the distance from the Gibbs dividing interface (GDI) of water, zGDI, for acid (green line), salt (orange line), and water (blue line) systems.

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