Crystalline Water at Room Temperature − Under Water and in Air

Abstract

In a visionary work published in 1971, Albert Szent-Györgyi predicted that crystalline interfacial water layers would play a fundamental role in biological processes and evolution. However, interfacial water layers are so sensitive to observation that they have never been imaged on relevant surfaces, so far. Here we show that crystalline interfacial water layers prevail at room temperature on both hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces − in ambient air and subaquatically. We probe the interfacial water layers by monitoring the resonance frequency responses of quartz crystal microbalance sensors to their irradiation with 633 and 670 nm lasers. Our results are consistent with the fractional picture of confined water, previously explored by atomic force microscopy, near-field scanning optical microscopy, and atomic force acoustic microscopy. Since we provide both structural information and quantitative data on the thickness of interfacial water layers, our approach promises progress in biomedicine and life sciences.

Light Effect on Water Viscosity: Implication for ATP Biosynthesis

“…As can be clearly seen in Fig. 2 the laser light contributed to a reduction in the load required to penetrate the hydrophilic sample (assumed to carry a viscous film of interfacial water which is tunable by 670 nm laser light via collective interaction of photons with transiently immobilized interfacial water molecules) 26 27 28 . The drop in the load with laser light was estimated to be around 72% compared to the non-irradiated sample.…”

“…Importantly, modulation effects were not restricted to 670 nm light. Comparable modulation effects were realized with other laser wavelengths, for instance, 633 nm, applied at 400 W ∙ m −2 26 . The expansion effect was exploited in vitro to force cancer cells to uptake various cytostatic drugs 29 , and predicted to be instrumental in the release of drugs from permeable nanovesicles, a prediction that has recently been confirmed experimentally 30 .…”

“…If indeed, a raise in interfacial viscosity impacts the rotation of the mitochondrial nanomotor, for instance, under conditions of prolonged oxidative stress, which are inescapably present during in vitro experiments, it can be reasonably assumed that a reduction of potentially elevated viscosity levels will manifest itself in an increase in ATP production. Earlier, we showed that the structure of nanoscopic interfacial water layers (about 2–3 monolayers) 26 can be modulated with 670 nm laser light applied at moderate intensities as low as 50 W ∙ m −2 27 . Modulation includes volume expansion 28 and viscosity reduction, specifically on hydrophilic surfaces, which are known to promote high viscosities 14 .…”

Diamonds are for men, too

“…In this context we note that 670 nm is not the only wavelength which interacts with interfacial water layers. Actually, we demonstrated that the effect is not restricted to NIR light (17). The special advantage of the wavelength 670 nm consists in its good tissue penetration without heating the fraction of bulk water in biological tissue, as opposed to infrared light.…”

Editorial on “Genesis on diamonds II: contact with diamond enhances human sperm performance by 300%”

“…Nanoscopic interfacial water layers which form on all solid surfaces, whether hydrophilic or hydrophobic, under air or under (bulk) water (9,10), are known to play immensely important role in a variety of biological processes (11), as was anticipated in the visionary work of Szent-Györgyi (12). Nanodiamond of any kind or, indeed, the surface of bulk diamond (natural or synthetic) is on the nanoscale highly hygroscopic and thus provides an excellent platform for studies of interfacial water, which showed the latter to be quite distinct from bulk water: with denser molecular packing (13), highly ordered and quasi-crystalline (14) [to the extent that hydrated diamond surface could have served as an origin-of-life platform, by imposing order on adsorbed pre-biological molecules (15)].…”