Shekhar Garde

Osmotic water transport through carbon nanotube membranes

We use molecular dynamics simulations to study osmotically driven transport of water molecules through hexagonally packed carbon nanotube membranes. Our simulation setup comprises two such semipermeable membranes separating compartments of pure water and salt solution. The osmotic force drives water flow from the pure-water to the salt-solution compartment. Monitoring the flow at molecular resolution reveals several distinct features of nanoscale flows. In particular, thermal fluctuations become significant at the nanoscopic length scales, and as a result, the flow is stochastic in nature. Further, the flow appears frictionless and is limited primarily by the barriers at the entry and exit of the nanotube pore. The observed flow rates are high (5.8 water molecules per nanosecond and nanotube), comparable to those through the transmembrane protein aquaporin-1, and are practically independent of the length of the nanotube, in contrast to predictions of macroscopic hydrodynamics. All of these distinct characteristics of nanoscopic water flow can be modeled quantitatively by a 1D continuous-time random walk. At long times, the pure-water compartment is drained, and the net flow of water is interrupted by the formation of structured solvation layers of water sandwiched between two nanotube membranes. Structural and thermodynamic aspects of confined water monolayers are studied.

New perspectives on hydrophobic effects

Abstract Recent breakthroughs in the theory of hydrophobic effects permit new analyses of several characteristics of hydrophobic hydration and interaction. Heat capacities of non-polar solvation, and their temperature dependences, are analyzed within an information theory approach, using experimental information available from bulk liquid water. Non-polar solvation in aqueous electrolytes is studied by computer simulations, and interpreted within the information theory. We also study the preferential solvation of small non-polar molecules in heavy water (D 2 O) relative to light water (H 2 O) and find that this revealing difference can be explained by the higher compressibility of D 2 O. We develop a quasi-chemical description of hydrophobic hydration that incorporates the hydration structure and permits quantum-mechanical treatment of the solute. Finally, these new results are discussed in the context of hydrophobic effects in protein stability and folding, and of mesoscopic hydrophobic effects such as dewetting.

Characterizing hydrophobicity of interfaces by using cavity formation, solute binding, and water correlations

Hydrophobicity is often characterized macroscopically by the droplet contact angle. Molecular signatures of hydrophobicity have, however, remained elusive. Successful theories predict a drying transition leading to a vapor-like region near large hard-sphere solutes and interfaces. Adding attractions wets the interface with local density increasing with attractions. Here we present extensive molecular simulation studies of hydration of realistic surfaces with a wide range of chemistries from hydrophobic (−CF3, −CH3) to hydrophilic (−OH, −CONH2). We show that the water density near weakly attractive hydrophobic surfaces (e.g., −CF3) can be bulk-like or larger, and provides a poor quantification of surface hydrophobicity. In contrast, the probability of cavity formation or the free energy of binding of hydrophobic solutes to interfaces correlates quantitatively with the macroscopic wetting properties and serves as an excellent signature of hydrophobicity. Specifically, the probability of cavity formation is enhanced in the vicinity of hydrophobic surfaces, and water–water correlations correspondingly display characteristics similar to those near a vapor–liquid interface. Hydrophilic surfaces suppress cavity formation and reduce the water–water correlation length. Our results suggest a potentially robust approach for characterizing hydrophobicity of more complex and heterogeneous surfaces of proteins and biomolecules, and other nanoscopic objects.

Hydrophobicity of proteins and interfaces: insights from density fluctuations.

Macroscopic characterizations of hydrophobicity (e.g., contact angle measurements) do not extend to the surfaces of proteins and nanoparticles. Molecular measures of hydrophobicity of such surfaces need to account for the behavior of hydration water. Theory and state-of-the-art simulations suggest that water density fluctuations provide such a measure; fluctuations are enhanced near hydrophobic surfaces and quenched with increasing surface hydrophilicity. Fluctuations affect conformational equilibria and dynamics of molecules at interfaces. Enhanced fluctuations are reflected in enhanced cavity formation, more favorable binding of hydrophobic solutes, increased compressibility of hydration water, and enhanced water-water correlations at hydrophobic surfaces. These density fluctuation-based measures can be used to develop practical methods to map the hydrophobicity/philicity of heterogeneous surfaces including those of proteins. They highlight that the hydrophobicity of a group is context dependent and is significantly affected by its environment (e.g., chemistry and topography) and especially by confinement. The ability to include information about hydration water in mapping hydrophobicity is expected to significantly impact our understanding of protein-protein interactions as well as improve drug design and discovery methods and bioseparation processes.

Sitting at the Edge: How Biomolecules use Hydrophobicity to Tune Their Interactions and Function

Water near extended hydrophobic surfaces is like that at a liquid-vapor interface, where fluctuations in water density are substantially enhanced compared to those in bulk water. Here we use molecular simulations with specialized sampling techniques to show that water density fluctuations are similarly enhanced, even near hydrophobic surfaces of complex biomolecules, situating them at the edge of a dewetting transition. Consequently, water near these surfaces is sensitive to subtle changes in surface conformation, topology, and chemistry, any of which can tip the balance toward or away from the wet state and thus significantly alter biomolecular interactions and function. Our work also resolves the long-standing puzzle of why some biological surfaces dewet and other seemingly similar surfaces do not.

Extended surfaces modulate hydrophobic interactions of neighboring solutes.

Amish J. Patel, Patrick Varilly, Sumanth N. Jamadagni, Hari Acharya, Shekhar Garde, ∗ and David Chandler ∗ Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, and Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Abstract Interfaces are a most common motif in complex systems. To understand how the presence of interfaces affect hydrophobic phenomena, we use molecular simulations and theory to study hydration of solutes at interfaces. The solutes range in size from sub-nanometer to a few nanometers. The interfaces are self-assembled monolayers with a range of chemistries, from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. We show that the driving force for assembly in the vicinity of a hydrophobic surface is weaker than that in bulk water, and decreases with increasing temperature, in contrast to that in the bulk. We explain these distinct features in terms of an interplay between interfacial fluctuations and excluded volume effects—the physics encoded in Lum-Chandler-Weeks theory [J. Phys. Chem. B 103 4570–4577 (1999)]. Our results suggest a catalytic role for hydrophobic interfaces in the unfolding of proteins, for example, in the interior of chaperonins and in amyloid formation.Interfaces are a most common motif in complex systems. To understand how the presence of interfaces affects hydrophobic phenomena, we use molecular simulations and theory to study hydration of solutes at interfaces. The solutes range in size from subnanometer to a few nanometers. The interfaces are self-assembled monolayers with a range of chemistries, from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. We show that the driving force for assembly in the vicinity of a hydrophobic surface is weaker than that in bulk water and decreases with increasing temperature, in contrast to that in the bulk. We explain these distinct features in terms of an interplay between interfacial fluctuations and excluded volume effects—the physics encoded in Lum–Chandler–Weeks theory [Lum K, Chandler D, Weeks JD (1999) J Phys Chem B 103:4570–4577]. Our results suggest a catalytic role for hydrophobic interfaces in the unfolding of proteins, for example, in the interior of chaperonins and in amyloid formation.

Size dependent ion hydration, its asymmetry, and convergence to macroscopic behavior

The packing and orientation of water molecules in the vicinity of solutes strongly influence the solute hydration thermodynamics in aqueous solutions. Here we study the charge density dependent hydration of a broad range of spherical monovalent ionic solutes (with solute diameters from approximately 0.4 nm to 1.7 nm) through molecular dynamics simulations in the simple point charge model of water. Consistent with previous experimental and theoretical studies, we observe a distinct asymmetry in the structure and thermodynamics of hydration of ions. In particular, the free energy of hydration of negative ions is more favorable than that of positive ions of the same size. This asymmetry persists over the entire range of solute sizes and cannot be captured by a continuum description of the solvent. The favorable hydration of negative ions arises primarily from the asymmetric charge distribution in the water molecule itself, and is reflected in (i) a small positive electrostatic potential at the center of a neutral solute, and (ii) clear structural (packing and orientation) differences in the hydration shell of positive and negative ions. While the asymmetry arising from the positive potential can be quantified in a straightforward manner, that arising from the structural differences in the fully charged states is difficult to quantify. The structural differences are highest for the small ions and diminish with increasing ion size, converging to hydrophobiclike hydration structure for the largest ions studied here. We discuss semiempirical measures following Latimer, Pitzer, and Slansky [J. Chem. Phys. 7, 108 (1939)] that account for these structural differences through a shift in the ion radius. We find that these two contributions account completely for the asymmetry of hydration of positive and negative ions over the entire range of ion sizes studied here. We also present preliminary calculations of the dependence of ion hydration asymmetry on the choice of water model that demonstrate its sensitivity to the details of ion-water interactions.

Mapping hydrophobicity at the nanoscale: Applications to heterogeneous surfaces and proteins

Approaches to quantify wetting at the macroscale do not translate to the nanoscale, highlighting the need for new methods for characterizing hydrophobicity at the small scale. We use extensive molecular simulations to study the hydration of homo and heterogeneous self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and of protein surfaces. For homogeneous SAMs, new pressure-dependent analysis shows that water displays higher compressibility and enhanced density fluctuations near hydrophobic surfaces, which are gradually quenched with increasing hydrophilicity, consistent with our previous studies. Heterogeneous surfaces show an interesting context dependence--adding a single -OH group in a CH3 terminated SAM has a more dramatic effect on water in the vicinity compared to that of a single CH3 group in an -OH background. For mixed -CH3/-OH SAMs, this asymmetry leads to a non-linear dependence of hydrophobicity on the surface concentration. We also present preliminary results to map hydrophobicity of protein surfaces by monitoring local density fluctuations and binding of probe hydrophobic solutes. These molecular measures account for the behavior of proteins hydration water, and present a more refined picture of its hydrophobicity map. At least for one protein, hydrophobin-II, we show that the hydrophobicity map is different from that suggested by a commonly used hydropathy scale.

Direct determination of phase behavior of square-well fluids

We have combined Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations with the aggregation volume-biased method in conjunction with the Gibbs-Duhem method to provide the first direct estimates for the vapor-solid, vapor-liquid, and liquid-solid phase coexistences of square-well fluids with three different ranges of attraction. Our results are consistent with the previous simulations and verify the notion that the vapor-liquid coexistence behavior becomes metastable for cases where the attraction well becomes smaller than 1.25 times the particle diameter. In these cases no triple point is found.

Enthalpy and entropy contributions to the pressure dependence of hydrophobic interactions

We use long molecular dynamics simulations of methane molecules in explicit water at three different temperatures at pressures of 1 and 4000 atm to calculate entropic and enthalpic contributions to the free energy of methane–methane association. In agreement with previous simulation studies, we find that the contact minimum is dominated by entropy whereas the solvent-separated minimum is stabilized by favorable enthalpy of association. Both the entropy and enthalpy at the contact minimum change negligibly with increasing pressure leading to the relative pressure insensitivity of the contact minimum configurations. In contrast, we find that the solvent-separated configurations are increasingly stabilized at higher pressures by enthalpic contributions that prevail over the slightly unfavorable entropic contributions to the free energy. The desolvation barrier is dominated by unfavorable enthalpy of maintaining a dry volume between methanes. However, the increasing height of the desolvation barrier with increasing pressures results from entropy changes at the barrier configurations. Further resolution of the enthalpy of association shows that major contributions to the enthalpy arise from changes in water–water interactions and the mechanical work (PΔV) expended in bringing the methanes to a separation of r. A connection of these thermodynamic features with the underlying changes in water structure is made by calculating methane–methane–water oxygen triplet correlation functions.