Alan K. Soper

The radial distribution functions of water and ice from 220 to 673 K and at pressures up to 400 MPa

Abstract Neutron diffraction data for water and ice in the form of OO, OH and HH partial structure factors now exist over a temperature range 220–673 K, and at pressures up to ∼400 MPa. In order for these data to be useful for comparing with different computer simulations and theories of water, it is first necessary to Fourier transform them to the corresponding site–site radial distribution functions. The process of doing this is not straightforward because of the inherent systematic uncertainties in the data, which arise primarily in the case of neutron scattering, from the inelasticity or recoil effects that can distort the experimental data. In this paper, it is shown that the empirical potential structure refinement procedure, which attempts to fit a three-dimensional ensemble of water molecules to all three partial structure factors simultaneously, leads to improved reliability in the extracted radial distribution functions. There are still some uncertainties, primarily associated with the hardness of the repulsive core of the intermolecular potential, which current data are not precise enough to resolve. The derived empirical potentials show some variability associated with particular experiments. General trends can be discerned however which indicate polarisation effects may be significant when effective intermolecular potentials are used over a wide temperature and density range.

Empirical potential Monte Carlo simulation of fluid structure

Abstract It is shown that data on the site-site pair correlation functions for a fluid of molecules can be used to derive a set of empirical site-site potential energy functions. These potential functions reproduce the fluid structure accurately but at the present time do not reproduce thermodynamic information on the fluid, such as the internal energy or pressure. The method works in an iterative manner, starting from a reference fluid in which only Lennard-Jones interactions are included, and generates, by Monte Carlo simulation, successive corrections to those potentials which eventually lead to the correct site-site pair correlation functions. Using the approach the structure of water as determined from neuron scattering experiments is compared to the structure of water obtained from the simple point charge extended (SPCE) model of water interactions. The empirical potentials derived from both experiment and SPCE water show qualitative similarities with the true SPCE potential, although there are quantitative differences. The simulation is driven by a set of potential energy functions, with equilibration of the energy of the distribution, and not, as in the reverse Monte Carlo method, by equilibrating the value of χ2, which measures how closely the simulated site-site pair correlation functions fit a set of diffraction data. As a result the simulation proceeds on a true random walk and samples a wide range of possible molecular configurations.

A neutron diffraction study of dimethyl sulphoxide–water mixtures

Neutron diffraction with hydrogen/deuterium isotope substitution is used to investigate the structure of water in concentrated dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) aqueous solutions. Partial structure factors and pair correlation functions involving the hydrogen atom on the water molecule are determined. Water structure is not found to be strongly affected by the presence of DMSO. However, the percentage of water molecules which hydrogen bond to themselves is substantially reduced compared to pure water, with a large proportion of the hydrogens available for bonding associated with the lone pairs on the DMSO. These experimental findings are in good agreement with the assumptions made in the simple mean‐field type model for hydrogen‐bonded mixtures, developed by Luzar [J. Chem. Phys. 91, 3603 (1989)]. A general scheme for analyzing experimental data on the HH and OH pair correlation functions in terms of coordination numbers is presented. The hydrogen–hydrogen correlation in the solvent (water) is also used to discuss the interparticle correlations between solute (DMSO) particles.

Small-angle scattering and the structure of ambient liquid water

Structural polyamorphism has been promoted as a means for understanding the anomalous thermodynamics and dynamics of water in the experimentally inaccessible supercooled region. In the metastable liquid region, theory has hypothesized the existence of a liquid-liquid critical point from which a dividing line separates two water species of high and low density. A recent small-angle X-ray scattering study has claimed that the two structural species postulated in the supercooled state are seen to exist in bulk water at ambient conditions. We analyze new small-angle X-ray scattering data on ambient liquid water taken at third generation synchrotron sources, and large 32,000 water molecule simulations using the TIP4P-Ew model of water, to show that the small-angle region measures standard number density fluctuations consistent with water’s isothermal compressibility temperature trends. Our study shows that there is no support or need for heterogeneities in water structure at room temperature to explain the small-angle scattering data, as it is consistent with a unimodal density of the tetrahedral liquid at ambient conditions.

The structure of liquid methanol revisited: a neutron diffraction experiment at -80 °C and +25 °C

Pulsed neutron diffraction with isotope substitution on the hydroxyl hydrogens (H) is used to study the structure of pure liquid methanol at −80 °C and +25 °C. Although this liquid has been studied with neutrons several times in the past this is the first time that the composite partial structure factors, XX, XH and HH, are derived from the diffraction data. Here X represents a weighted sum of correlations from carbon (C), oxygen (O), and methyl hydrogen (M) atoms on the methanol molecule. The data are used in an empirical potential structure refinement (EPSR) computer simulation of the liquid at both temperatures. Model distributions of molecules consistent with these data are used to estimate the individual site—site radial distribution functions, the coefficients of the spherical harmonic expansion of the orientational pair correlation function, and the length of possible chains of methanol molecules formed in the liquid. Although the results are qualitatively similar to those of earlier computer simul...

Structure and properties of an amorphous metal-organic framework.

ZIF-4, a metal-organic framework (MOF) with a zeolitic structure, undergoes a crystal-amorphous transition on heating to 300 degrees C. The amorphous form, which we term a-ZIF, is recoverable to ambient conditions or may be converted to a dense crystalline phase of the same composition by heating to 400 degrees C. Neutron and x-ray total scattering data collected during the amorphization process are used as a basis for reverse Monte Carlo refinement of an atomistic model of the structure of a-ZIF. The structure is best understood in terms of a continuous random network analogous to that of a-SiO2. Optical microscopy, electron diffraction and nanoindentation measurements reveal a-ZIF to be an isotropic glasslike phase capable of plastic flow on its formation. Our results suggest an avenue for designing broad new families of amorphous and glasslike materials that exploit the chemical and structural diversity of MOFs.

Water confined in Vycor glass. I. A neutron diffraction study

Neutron diffraction experiments with isotopic substitution on water confined in porous Vycor glass at two hydration states are presented and analyzed in terms of the experimentally accessible site-site distribution functions. The bias on these functions as well as their limitations, due to the presence of regions where water molecules are not allowed (excluded volume effects), and to the contribution of water–Vycor interference to the measured cross sections, are discussed. In particular the relative weight of these cross correlation terms is estimated for the first time. It is shown that the traditional analysis of diffraction data of these kinds which ignore cross correlations may be erroneous. A full account of the excluded volume effects is reported in paper II [A. Soper, F. Bruni, and M. A. Ricci, J. Chem. Phys. 109, 1486 (1998), following paper].

Search for memory effects in methane hydrate: Structure of water before hydrate formation and after hydrate decomposition

Neutron diffraction with HD isotope substitution has been used to study the formation and decomposition of the methane clathrate hydrate. Using this atomistic technique coupled with simultaneous gas consumption measurements, we have successfully tracked the formation of the sI methane hydrate from a water/gas mixture and then the subsequent decomposition of the hydrate from initiation to completion. These studies demonstrate that the application of neutron diffraction with simultaneous gas consumption measurements provides a powerful method for studying the clathrate hydrate crystal growth and decomposition. We have also used neutron diffraction to examine the water structure before the hydrate growth and after the hydrate decomposition. From the neutron-scattering curves and the empirical potential structure refinement analysis of the data, we find that there is no significant difference between the structure of water before the hydrate formation and the structure of water after the hydrate decomposition. Nor is there any significant change to the methane hydration shell. These results are discussed in the context of widely held views on the existence of memory effects after the hydrate decomposition.

Water ordering around methane during hydrate formation

The structure of water around methane during hydrate crystallization from aqueous solutions of methane is studied using neutron diffraction with isotopic substitution over the temperature range 18 °C to 4 °C, and at two pressures, 14.5 and 3.4 MPa. The carbon–oxygen pair correlation functions, derived from empirical potential structure refinement of the data, indicate that the hydration sphere around methane in the liquid changes dramatically only once hydrate has formed, with the water shell around methane being about 1 A larger in diameter in the crystal than in the liquid. The methane coordination number in the liquid is around 16±1 water molecules during hydrate formation, which is significantly smaller than the value of 21±1 water molecules found for the case when hydrate is fully formed. Once hydrate starts to form, the hydration shell around methane becomes marginally less ordered compared to that in the solution above the hydrate formation temperature. This suggests that the hydration cage around ...

Counteraction of Urea by Trimethylamine N-Oxide Is Due to Direct Interaction

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a naturally occurring osmolyte that stabilizes proteins, induces folding, and counteracts the denaturing effects of urea, pressure, and ice. To establish the mechanism behind these effects, isotopic substitution neutron-scattering measurements were performed on aqueous solutions of TMAO and 1:1 TMAO-urea at a solute mole fraction of 0.05. The partial pair distribution functions were extracted using the empirical potential structure refinement method. The results were compared with previous results obtained with isosteric tert-butanol, as well as the available data from spectroscopy and molecular-dynamics simulations. In solution, the oxygen atom of TMAO is strongly hydrogen-bonded to, on average, between two and three water molecules, and the hydrogen-bond network is tighter in water than in pure water. In TMAO-urea solutions, the oxygen atom in TMAO preferentially forms hydrogen bonds with urea. This explains why the counteraction is completed at a 2:1 urea/TMAO concentration ratio, independently of urea concentration. These results strongly support models for the effect of TMAO on the stability of proteins based on a modification of the simultaneous equilibria that control hydrogen bonding between the peptide backbone and water or intramolecular sites, without any need for direct interaction between TMAO and the protein.