Measurements by adiabatic calorimetry of heat capacities and enthalpy relaxation rates of a 20% (w/w) aqueous solution of bovine serum albumin (BSA) by Kawai, Suzuki, and Oguni [Biophys. J. 2006, 90, 3732] have found several enthalpy relaxations at long times indicating different processes undergoing glass transitions. In a quenched sample, one enthalpy relaxation at around 110 K and another over a wide temperature range (120-190 K) were observed. In a sample annealed at 200-240 K after quenching, three separated enthalpy relaxations at 110, 135, and above 180 K were observed. Dynamics of processes probed by adiabatic calorimetric data are limited to long times on the order of 10(3) s. A fuller understanding of the processes can be gained by probing the dynamics over a wider time/frequency range. Toward this goal, we performed broadband dielectric measurements of BSA-water mixtures at various BSA concentrations over a wide frequency range of thirteen decades from 2 mHz to 1.8 GHz at temperatures from 80 to 270 K. Three relevant relaxation processes were detected. For relaxation times equal to 100 s, the three processes are centered approximately at 110, 135, and 200 K, in good agreement with those observed by adiabatic calorimetry. We have made the following interpretation of the molecular origins of the three processes. The fastest relaxation process having relaxation time of 100 or 1000 s at ca. 110 K is due to the secondary relaxation of uncrystallized water (UCW) in the hydration shell. The intermediate relaxation process with 100 s relaxation time at ca. 135 K is due to ice. The slowest relaxation process having relaxation time of 100 s at ca. 200 K is interpreted to originate from local chain conformation fluctuations of protein slaved by water. Experimental evidence supporting these interpretations include the change of temperature dependence of the relaxation time of the UCW at approximately T(gBSA) approximately = 200 K, the glass transition temperature of protein in the hydration shell, similar to that found for the secondary relaxation of water in a mixture of myoglobin in glycerol and water [Swenson et al. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 2007, 19, 205109; Ngai et al. J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 112, 3826]. The data all indicate in hydrated BSA or other proteins that the secondary relaxation of water and the conformation fluctuations of the protein in the hydration shell are inseparable or symbiotic processes.

The relaxation processes of water mixtures of glycerol, ethylene glycol, ethylene glycol oligomers with two to six repeat units, poly(ethylene glycol) 400 and 600, fructose, and propanol have been studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy at different water contents in the frequency range 10 μHz-20 GHz and in the temperature range 300-80 K without water crystallization. The results show that, in the vicinity of the glass transition temperature of the mixtures, two kinds of water exist. Part of the water behaves as excess water retaining its inherent mobility and appearing as a separate relaxation process (named here the ν-process) at frequencies higher than the structural α-process at subzero temperatures. Another part of the water moves cooperatively with solute molecules and contributes to the α-process.

The dielectric behavior of living tissues and a number of biological materials was examined by new equipment of the time domain reflectometry method in a wide frequency range of 107-1010 Hz. We found two peaks of Debye absorption around 100 MHz and 20 GHz fpr all the materials. The low-frequency absorption is probably due to bound water while the high-frequency absorption to free water. From the observed relaxation times of bound water a hypothesis is ventured on the structure of bound water and its relaxation mechanism.

Dielectric measurements on water mixtures of polymers such as poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), poly(ethylenimine) (PEI), and poly(allylamine) (PAlA) were performed over a frequency range from 300 MHz to 15 GHz at 25 °C. Dielectric dispersion and absorption curves related to the orientational motion of water can be described well by the Cole−Cole equation. The distribution of the relaxation time is interpreted by the variation of the water structure. The logarithmic plot of the relaxation time against the parameter for the distribution of the relaxation time suggests two groups of polymers. One group contains nonelectrolyte polymers and another contains electrolyte polymers and PVA. This result implies that water structures in the mixtures of the former group are more uniform and stable than that in the mixtures of the latter group.

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Dielectric measurements over a microwave frequency range 10 MHz–15 GHz were carried out by the use of new time domain reflectometry equipment on the mixtures of water with five primary alcohols, viz., methanol, ethanol, and n-propanol in the concentration range 0≤x≤1 and n-butanol and amyl alcohol in the range 0≤x≤0.5 at room temperature; x being the mole fraction of water. The systems of water and two alcohols of low molecular weight are characterized by a single relaxation with a distribution parameter of the unity or near to it. The molecular reorientation in the mixtures as well as water and these alcohols is a cooperative process involving a large number of molecules with the hydrogen-bond linkages (O–H⋅⋅⋅O). Dielectric behavior of the mixtures of water and methyl or ethyl alcohol is due to the structure of a hydrogen-bonded network being microscopically homogeneous. Microscopic heterogeneity occurs in the mixtures of water and higher alcohols.

Broadband dielectric measurements for 65 wt % ethylene glycol oligomer (EGO)-water mixtures with one to six repeat units of EGO molecules were performed in the frequency range of 10 microHz-10 GHz and the temperature range of 128-298 K. In the case of the water-EGO mixtures with one and two repeat units of the EGO molecule (small EGO), the shape of the dielectric loss peak of the primary process is asymmetrical about the logarithm of the frequency of maximum loss above the crossover temperature, T(C). The asymmetric process continues to the alpha process at a low frequency, and an additional beta process appears in the frequency range higher than that of the alpha process below T(C). In contrast, the water-EGO mixtures with three or more repeat units of the EGO molecule (large EGO) show a broad and symmetrical loss peak of the primary process above T(C). The symmetric process continues to the beta process, and an additional alpha process appears in the frequency range lower than that of the beta process below T(C). These different scenarios of the alpha-beta separation related to the shape of the loss peak above T(C) are a result of the difference in the cooperative motion of water and solute molecules. The solute and water molecules move cooperatively in the small EGO-water mixtures above T(C), and this cooperative motion leads to the asymmetric loss peak above T(C) and the alpha process below T(C). For the large EGO-water mixtures, the spatially restricted motion of water confined by solute molecules leads to the symmetric loss peak above T(C) and the beta process below T(C).

Complex permittivity was measured in the frequency range from 10 MHz to 20 GHz at 25°C for water mixtures of 22 aliphatic alcohols. The molecular structures of these alcohols systematically changed with the number of carbon atoms and hydroxyl groups, and their positions in the molecules. The asymmetric shape of the frequency dependence of the dielectric loss for the primary relaxation process was observed for each mixture. The broadness of the asymmetric dielectric loss depends on the water content, and the broadest dielectric loss was observed in the water mole fraction range of 0.65 < x w < 0.85. There is a strong correlation between the broadness of dielectric loss and the number of carbon atoms in the alcohol molecule. Deviations of observed relaxation times from those estimated for ideal mixtures depend on the number of carbon atoms except for the mixtures of water and alcohols with large alkyl groups, which form a micelle-like structure. These experimental results are interpreted on the basis of a model of three kinds of cooperative domains coexisting in the mixtures.