Hydrogen-bonding and vibrational coupling of water in a hydrophobic hydration shell: Significance of alkyl chain configuration and charge on the hydrophobe

Abstract

The interaction between a molecular hydrophobe and water is crucial for their mutual structure and reactivity. Here, we have investigated the hydrogen-bonding (H-bonding) structure and intermolecular vibrational coupling i.e., the collective nature of water, in the hydration shell (HS) of charged and uncharged molecular hydrophobes, using polarization-resolved Raman difference spectroscopy with simultaneous curve fitting (Raman-DS-SCF) and isotopic dilution spectroscopy. Raman-DS-SCF provides the vibrational spectrum of water pertaining to the HS of the hydrophobes. The HS-spectra reveal that the positive charge on the hydrophobe (e.g., deuterated tetramethylammonium cation, d-TMA+) as well as the branching of the alkyl chain (n-butyl alcohol (BA) vs. tert-butyl alcohol (TBA)) reinforces the intermolecular vibrational coupling of water in the HS. The water-water H-bonding in the HS of d-TMA+ and d-TBA are similar to each other, but stronger than that of the bulk water. Apart from the strongly H-bonded water, the hydrophobic hydration shells exhibit weakly interacting dangling OH (ν¯max≈3670) which is intramolecularly coupled with the H-bonded OH of the same water molecule. The prevalence of the dangling-OH decreases with chain-branching and net positive charge on the hydrophobe: BA > d-TBA > d-TMA+. Altogether, the collective nature of water and its propensity for dangling-OH in a hydrophobic hydration shell strongly depend on the net charge and alkyl chain configuration of the hydrophobe.