Directional nature of hydrophobic interactions: Implications for the mechanism of molecular recognition

Sun, Qiang; Wang, Weiqi; Cui, Shuai

doi:10.1016/j.chemphys.2021.111200

Cited by 9 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Thermodynamically, the dissolved solutes are expected to approach each other in the direction with the lowest energy barrier, in which less water molecules may be expelled. From the above, the directional nature may be expected in the H1w hydrophobic process [ 37 ].…”

Section: Hydrophobic Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hydrophobic effects are usually defined as the tendency of non-polar solutes to be aggregated in aqueous environments. From our recent studies [ 34 , 36 , 37 ] on hydrophobic effects, this may be reasonably described as the tendency for minimizing the ratio of the surface area to the volume of the solutes in order to maximize the hydrogen bondings of water. In fact, this is due to the dissolved solute mainly affecting the structure of interfacial water, as the hydrogen bondings of interfacial water are weaker than bulk water.…”

Section: Hydrophobic Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, it is found that hydrophobic interactions are reasonably attributed to the structural competition between interfacial and bulk water. Therefore, it is reasonable to regard the hydrophobicity as “effects” rather than “bonds” [ 34 , 36 , 37 ].…”

Section: Hydrophobic Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the solutes are aggregated in aqueous solutions, it may be divided into H1w and H2s hydrophobic processes. In our recent study [ 37 ], different directional natures are found in the H1w and H2s processes. In the H1w process, the dissolved solutes are expected to approach in the specific direction with the lowest energy barrier, in which fewer expelled water molecules are expected.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Hydrophobic Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In cell biology, water may be regarded as an active constituent, rather than a bystander [ 27 , 28 , 29 ]. According to our recent structural works [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ] on liquid water and air-water interface, hydration free energy is determined. This is utilized to understand the nature of hydrophobic interactions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Hydrophobic Effects: Our Current Understanding

Sun

2022

Molecules

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Hydrophobic interactions are involved in and believed to be the fundamental driving force of many chemical and biological phenomena in aqueous environments. This review focuses on our current understanding on hydrophobic effects. As a solute is embedded into water, the interface appears between solute and water, which mainly affects the structure of interfacial water (the topmost water layer at the solute/water interface). From our recent structural studies on water and air-water interface, hydration free energy is derived and utilized to investigate the origin of hydrophobic interactions. It is found that hydration free energy depends on the size of solute. With increasing the solute size, it is reasonably divided into initial and hydrophobic solvation processes, and various dissolved behaviors of the solutes are expected in different solvation processes, such as dispersed and accumulated distributions in solutions. Regarding the origin of hydrophobic effects, it is ascribed to the structural competition between the hydrogen bondings of interfacial and bulk water. This can be applied to understand the characteristics of hydrophobic interactions, such as the dependence of hydrophobic interactions on solute size (or concentrations), the directional natures of hydrophobic interactions, and temperature effects on hydrophobic interactions.

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Section: Hydrophobic Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%