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

Entropy and Solvation02:05

Entropy and Solvation

The process of surrounding a solute with solvent is called solvation. It involves evenly distributing the solute within the solvent. The rule of thumb for determining a solvent for a given compound is that like dissolves like. A good solvent has molecular characteristics similar to those of the compound to be dissolved. For example, polar solutions dissolve polar solutes, and apolar solvents dissolve apolar solutes. A polar solvent is a solvent that has a high dielectric constant (ϵ ≥ 15); an...
Hess's Law03:40

Hess's Law

There are two ways to determine the amount of heat involved in a chemical change: measure it experimentally, or calculate it from other experimentally determined enthalpy changes. Some reactions are difficult, if not impossible, to investigate and make accurate measurements for experimentally. And even when a reaction is not hard to perform or measure, it is convenient to be able to determine the heat involved in a reaction without having to perform an experiment.
Aqueous Solutions and Heats of Hydration02:42

Aqueous Solutions and Heats of Hydration

Water and other polar molecules are attracted to ions. The electrostatic attraction between an ion and a molecule with a dipole is called an ion-dipole attraction. These attractions play an important role in the dissolution of ionic compounds in water.
When ionic compounds dissolve in water, the ions in the solid separate and disperse uniformly throughout the solution because water molecules surround and solvate the ions, reducing the strong electrostatic forces between them. This process...
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.
Ionic Association01:28

Ionic Association

The ionic association is the association of oppositely charged ions in an electrolyte solution to form ion pairs. Bjerrum defined ion pairs as two oppositely charged ions whose electrostatic attraction exceeds the thermal energy of the system, typically expressed as 2kT. Electrostatic attraction depends on ionic charge, separation distance, and the dielectric constant of the medium. Thermal energy, represented by kT, reflects the tendency of ions to move independently due to molecular motion.
Enthalpy of Solution02:39

Enthalpy of Solution

There are two criteria that favor, but do not guarantee, the spontaneous formation of a solution:

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Structure and dynamics in drug discovery.

npj drug discovery·2026
Same author

The scientific legacy of Martin Karplus from the perspective of his collaborators.

Biophysical journal·2026
Same author

Markovian state models uncover casein kinase 1 dynamics that govern circadian period.

Biophysical journal·2025
Same author

The need to implement FAIR principles in biomolecular simulations.

Nature methods·2025
Same author

Markovian State Models uncover Casein Kinase 1 dynamics that govern circadian period.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

The mechanism of allosteric regulation of calcium-independent phospholipase A<sub>2</sub> by ATP and calmodulin binding to the ankyrin domain.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2024

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Computation of Atmospheric Concentrations of Molecular Clusters from ab initio Thermochemistry
12:11

Computation of Atmospheric Concentrations of Molecular Clusters from ab initio Thermochemistry

Published on: April 8, 2020

How Can Hydrophobic Association Be Enthalpy Driven?

Piotr Setny1, Riccardo Baron, J Andrew McCammon

  • 1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego and Physics Department, Technical University Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany.

Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
|September 17, 2010
PubMed
Summary

Hydrophobic binding is often thought to be entropy-driven. This study reveals enthalpy drives binding in a model system, with water expulsion from the receptor cavity being key.

More Related Videos

Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes
09:42

Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes

Published on: January 16, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Computation of Atmospheric Concentrations of Molecular Clusters from ab initio Thermochemistry
12:11

Computation of Atmospheric Concentrations of Molecular Clusters from ab initio Thermochemistry

Published on: April 8, 2020

Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes
09:42

Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes

Published on: January 16, 2016

Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Chemical Physics
  • Molecular Dynamics

Background:

  • Hydrophobic association is typically attributed to favorable entropy.
  • Understanding binding thermodynamics is crucial for drug discovery and molecular recognition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the thermodynamic driving forces of hydrophobic receptor-ligand binding.
  • To elucidate the role of solvent and hydration changes in binding thermodynamics.

Main Methods:

  • Explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations.
  • Analysis of the temperature dependence of the potential of mean force.
  • Correlation of thermodynamic contributions with system hydration changes.

Main Results:

  • The model hydrophobic system's binding is enthalpy-driven, not entropy-driven.
  • Entropy opposes the binding process.
  • Expulsion of disorganized water from the receptor cavity dictates the binding thermodynamics.

Conclusions:

  • Receptor-ligand binding can be enthalpy-driven, contrary to common assumptions.
  • Solvent-induced water expulsion is a significant factor in binding.
  • Findings are relevant for biological systems with poorly hydrated binding sites.