Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Water: A Bronsted-Lowry Acid and Base02:30

Water: A Bronsted-Lowry Acid and Base

The reaction between a Brønsted-Lowry acid and water is called acid ionization. For example, when hydrogen fluoride dissolves in water and ionizes, protons are transferred from hydrogen fluoride molecules to water molecules, yielding hydronium ions and fluoride ions:
Basicity of Aliphatic Amines01:21

Basicity of Aliphatic Amines

Amines can behave as Brønsted–Lowry bases by accepting a proton from the acid to form corresponding conjugate acids. Due to a lone pair of nonbonding electrons, aliphatic amines can also act as Lewis bases by forming a covalent bond with an electrophile.
To measure the basicity of amines, two conventions are generally used. The first defines Kb as the basicity constant for the deprotonation reaction of water by the amine, as presented in Figure 1. Conventionally, lower Kb indicates higher...
Aldehydes and Ketones with Water: Hydrate Formation01:20

Aldehydes and Ketones with Water: Hydrate Formation

An oxygen-based nucleophile, like water, can undergo addition reactions with aldehydes and ketones. The reaction leads to the formation of hydrates, also referred to as 1,1-diols or geminal diols.
The formation of hydrates is a reversible reaction. Hydrate formation is influenced by steric and electronic factors accompanying the alkyl substituents on the carbonyl group: The rate of hydrate formation increases with a decrease in the number of alkyl groups attached to the carbonyl carbon. Hence,...
Acid-Catalyzed Hydration of Alkenes02:45

Acid-Catalyzed Hydration of Alkenes

Alkenes react with water in the presence of an acid to form an alcohol. In the absence of acid, hydration of alkenes does not occur at a significant rate, and the acid is not consumed in the reaction. Therefore, alkene hydration is an acid-catalyzed reaction.
Amino acids03:42

Amino acids

Amino acids are the monomers that comprise proteins. Each amino acid has the same fundamental structure, which consists of a central carbon atom, or the alpha (α) carbon, bonded to an amino group (NH2), a carboxyl group (COOH), and to a hydrogen atom. Every amino acid also has another atom or group of atoms bonded to the central atom known as the R group. There are 20 common amino acids present in proteins, each with a different R group. Variation in the amino acid sequence is responsible for...
Leveling Effect and Non-Aqueous Acid-Base Solutions02:11

Leveling Effect and Non-Aqueous Acid-Base Solutions

This lesson defines the leveling effect in acidic and basic solutions and its role in aqueous and non-aqueous solutions. It is essential to understand the competing nature of various species in a chemical system.
The Leveling Effect of a Solvent
A generic acid (HA) reacts with the generic base (B-) to yield the corresponding conjugate base (A-) and conjugate acid (HB):

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Charge Transfer Interaction between <i>Ab Initio</i> and Effective Fragment Potential Molecules.

Journal of chemical theory and computation·2026
Same author

Electron repulsion integral evaluation over f-type functions on GPUs via OpenMP offloading.

The Journal of chemical physics·2026
Same author

Hierarchical Truncations for Many-Body Expansion Potentials.

Journal of chemical theory and computation·2026
Same author

Speeding Up Hartree-Fock in JuliaChem with Density Fitting.

Journal of chemical theory and computation·2026
Same author

Multiscale Modeling of Transport-Mediated Catalytic Reactions in Linear Nanopores: PNB Conversion in MSN.

Journal of chemical theory and computation·2026
Same author

Theoretical study of Si/C alternately substituted annulenes with a belt structure.

Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Split-and-pool Synthesis and Characterization of Peptide Tertiary Amide Library
13:37

Split-and-pool Synthesis and Characterization of Peptide Tertiary Amide Library

Published on: June 20, 2014

Alanine: then there was water.

Jonathan M Mullin1, Mark S Gordon

  • 1Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, USA.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry. B
|June 3, 2009
PubMed
Summary

This study investigates how water molecules stabilize the zwitterionic form of l-alanine. Few water molecules are needed to stabilize the zwitterionic form, influencing its structure.

Area of Science:

  • Computational Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Physical Chemistry

Background:

  • Amino acids exist in nonionized (N) and zwitterionic (Z) forms.
  • Solvent effects significantly influence molecular conformation and stability.
  • Understanding solvation is crucial for predicting biomolecular behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the number of water molecules required to stabilize the zwitterionic form of l-alanine.
  • To investigate how solvent interactions affect the conformational preferences of l-alanine.
  • To quantify the energetic stabilization of the zwitterionic form by water molecules.

Main Methods:

  • Ab initio electronic structure theory was employed.
  • The effective fragment potential (EFP) model was used for discrete solvation.

More Related Videos

A Strategy for Sensitive, Large Scale Quantitative Metabolomics
14:18

A Strategy for Sensitive, Large Scale Quantitative Metabolomics

Published on: May 27, 2014

Neutron Crystallography Data Collection and Processing for Modelling Hydrogen Atoms in Protein Structures
10:10

Neutron Crystallography Data Collection and Processing for Modelling Hydrogen Atoms in Protein Structures

Published on: December 1, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Split-and-pool Synthesis and Characterization of Peptide Tertiary Amide Library
13:37

Split-and-pool Synthesis and Characterization of Peptide Tertiary Amide Library

Published on: June 20, 2014

A Strategy for Sensitive, Large Scale Quantitative Metabolomics
14:18

A Strategy for Sensitive, Large Scale Quantitative Metabolomics

Published on: May 27, 2014

Neutron Crystallography Data Collection and Processing for Modelling Hydrogen Atoms in Protein Structures
10:10

Neutron Crystallography Data Collection and Processing for Modelling Hydrogen Atoms in Protein Structures

Published on: December 1, 2020

  • Polarizable continuum method (PCM) was utilized for bulk solvation.
  • Monte Carlo algorithms sampled configuration space to find global minima.

    • Main Results:

    • Bridging structures emerged as the lowest energy minima for the zwitterionic form with 3-5 water molecules.
    • Second-order perturbation theory and PCM stabilized zwitterionic structures by 3-6 and 7 kcal/mol, respectively.
    • Each additional water molecule contributed approximately 1 kcal/mol stabilization relative to the nonionized form.
    • The N-Z enthalpy difference approached convergence with approximately 32 water molecules.

    Conclusions:

    • The zwitterionic form of l-alanine is stabilized by a small number of discrete water molecules.
    • Solvation plays a critical role in determining the conformational landscape of amino acids.
    • Computational methods like EFP and PCM provide valuable insights into solvation dynamics.