Can trimethylamine-N-oxide act to influence the self-aggregation of tert-butyl alcohol?

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe report classical molecular dynamics simulation studies of aqueous solution consisting of water, tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). In spite of the fact that both TBA and TMAO molecules have very similar geometry with hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups, they behave very differently in aqueous solutions. Our aim is to see the role of TMAO on the self-aggregation (or association) of TBA molecules. We observe that, TMAO acts to postpone the aggregation of TBA molecules (takes place via the hydrophobic ends) to some extent. Addition of 0.10 mole fraction of TMAO shifts the aggregation concentration of TBA from xtba = 0.025 to xtba = 0.06. From the excess coordination number, calculation it is noticed that up to xtba = 0.06, TBA molecules are favourably solvated by TMAO by replacing water molecules from TBA solvation shell but above this concentration, TBA–TMAO interaction decreases. This is further confirmed by water–TMAO interactions which shows a shift above xtba = 0.06 indicating more preferred interactions between them. We also observe a noticeable increase in the water–water hydrogen bond life time in presence of TBA molecules indicating more structuring of water molecules.