Sucrose–water mixture: From thermodynamics to solution structure

Abstract

What is the structure of sucrose–water mixture? I employ an exact statistical thermodynamic theory (Kirkwood–Buff theory) to calculate information regarding sucrose–water, water–water and sucrose–sucrose interactions solely from volumetric and osmometric data. We found that (i) Long-ranged hydration structure, beyond the first hydration shell, influences thermodynamics; (ii) The inferred minimum of the activity coefficient of water at the high sucrose concentration is due to the increases in the self association of water. These findings from a rigorous theory are consistent with previous simulation studies.