Influence of a Neighboring Charged Group on Hydrophobic Hydration Shell Structure

Raman multivariate curve resolution (Raman-MCR), as well as quantum and classical calculations, are used to probe water structural changes in the hydration shells of carboxylic acids and tetraalkyl ammonium ions with various aliphatic chain lengths. The results reveal that water molecules in the hydration shell around the hydrophobic chains undergo a temperature and chain length dependent structural transformation resembling that previously observed in aqueous solutions of n-alcohols. Deprotonation of the carboxylic acid headgroup (at pH ∼ 7) is found to suppress the onset of the hydration-shell structural transformation around the nearest aliphatic methylene group. Tetraalkyl ammonium cations are found to more strongly suppress the water structural transformation, perhaps reflecting the greater intramolecular charge delocalization and suppression of dangling OH defects in water's tetrahedral H-bond network. The observed coupling between ionic and hydrophobic groups, as well as the associated charge asymmetry, may influence the hydrophobicity of proteins and other materials.