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Ionenes are alkyl polymer chains in which different numbers of methylene groups separate quaternary ammonium groups. They are ideal molecules for studying the balance between hydrophobic and charge effects in water. Implicit-solvent models predict osmotic coefficients that are too high (too low water vapor pressures), compared to experiments. We present a molecular dynamics simulation, in explicit SPC/E water, of a solution of aliphatic 6,6 ionene oligocations with sodium co-ions and fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine counterions. In the 6,6 ionene solution, the latter polyion has more hydrophobic groups than its 3,3 counterpart, the waters are displaced more from the oligoion surface. Also, we find that the large ions, such as iodine, act like hydrophobic groups insofar as they bind to ionene's methylene groups. The water-mediated attraction between fluorine ions is enhanced in presence of weakly charged 6,6 ionene molecules. This effect may additionally reduce the osmotic pressure in such systems. Our results can explain some experimental trends in ionene solutions and weakly charged polyelectrolytes in general.

Ionenes are alkyl polymer chains in which hydrophobic groups are separated by ionic charges. They are useful for studying the properties of water as a solvent because they demonstrate a sufficiently complex combination of hydrophobicity, charge interactions, and specific-ion effects that some properties cannot be predicted by implicit-solvation theories. On the other hand, they are simple enough that their molecular structures can be varied and controlled in systematic experiments. In particular, implicit-solvent models predict that all such solutes will have negative enthalpies of dilution, whereas experiments show that enthalpies of dilution are positive for the chaotropic counterions. Here, we study ionenes that are short chains (six monomer units) in solutions of different counterions, with sodium as the coion by molecular dynamics simulations in explicit water. We explore the pair distributions of various atoms within the system at three different temperatures: T=278, 298, and 318 K. We find (i) that the molecular dynamics simulations are consistent with the experimental trends for the osmotic coefficients and enthalpies of dilution, (ii) that the fluorine-nitrogen and fluorine-carbon correlations decrease with decreasing temperature, (iii) while the opposite behavior is found for iodine ions, and (iv) that in the counterion-Na(+) pair distributions, too, fluorine ions behave oppositely to iodine ions upon temperature increase.

Aliphatic x,y-ionenes are polyelectrolytes in which x and y denote the numbers of methylene groups separating quaternary ammonium ions. They represent useful model substances for studying hydrophobic and charge effects in aqueous solutions. We used isothermal titration calorimetry to measure the enthalpies of mixing, ΔH(mix), of 3,3- and 6,6-ionene fluorides and bromides with low molecular weight salts (NaF, NaCl, NaBr, and NaI) at 298 K in water. The signs and magnitudes of the measured enthalpies depend on the hydrophobicity of the ionene and on the nature of the added salt. For example, addition of sodium fluoride to solutions of 3,3- and 6,6-ionene fluorides produced endothermic effects, while addition of sodium bromide to 3,3-ionene bromide resulted in a strong exothermic effect. Interestingly, mixing of 6,6-ionene bromide and NaBr solutions in water gave a small exothermic heat effect. Polyelectrolyte theories, based on continuum-solvent models, predict enthalpies of mixing to be positive (endothermic) for all the solutions examined in this work. The ion-specific effect is more strongly expressed in ionene solutions with higher charge density (3,3-ionene). The most important result of this work is the finding that the enthalpy of mixing of 3,3- (and of 6,6-ionene) fluorides with sodium halides can be expressed as a linear function of the enthalpy of hydration of the halide counterions. The experimental results were complemented with an explicit water molecular dynamics simulation of solutions of oligoions modelling 3,3- and 6,6-ionenes. The computer simulation results for various nitrogen-counterion pair distribution functions were in most cases consistent with the enthalpy measurements.

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We present explicit water molecular dynamics simulations of solutions of aliphatic 3,3- and 6,6-ionene oligocations neutralized with (i) fluoride, chloride, bromide, or iodide counterions, respectively, or (ii) with a 1:1 mixture of chloride and bromide anions in presence of a low molecular weight salt at 298 K. The SPC/E model was used to describe water molecules. Results of the simulation are presented in form of the pair distribution functions between various atoms on the ionene oligoion and counterions in solution. In addition, we were interested in the dynamics of counterions around model ionenes. We showed that counterions residing in the vicinity of the oligoion exchange rapidly with those in the bulk solution, with the frequency depending on the nature of the counterion and on the charge density of the oligoion. We calculated the average residence times of the various counterion species to the oligoions and proposed the model which divides the counterions into "free" and "bound" and calculated the fraction of "free" counterions. In the second part of the study, we investigated interaction of the sodium chloride and sodium bromide, being simultaneously present in the solution, with differently charged ionenes in water. The selectivity effect was clearly observed: bromide ions tend to replace chloride ions in the immediate vicinity of the ionene oligoions. Simulation results are discussed in light of our recent measurements of thermodynamic and transport properties of aqueous ionene solutions.

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