Hydrophobic assembly

Chandler D. Interfaces and the driving force of hydrophobic assembly. Nature 2005 437 640-7. 

It is common knowledge that amphiphilic molecules, such as sodium dodecyl sulfate, above a certain critical concentration in water form assembled suiictures in which the hydrophobic units are clustered together. The notice of a hydrophobic effect was brought to light by Walter Kauzmann, whilst studying forces that influenced protein denaturation [27]. An excellent critical review on interfaces and the driving forces of hydrophobic assembly was written by Chandler in 2005 [28]. 

Native dastin derivatives and thdr precursors undergo revasible, temperature-dependent, hydrophobic assembly from aqueous solution, which results in spontaneous phase separation of the polyp>eptide above a critical temperature, T that depends on polypeptide sequence and environmental conditions. This process, known as coacervation, is formally analogous to the responsive phase behavior observed for smart polymas such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and poly( ethylene glycol) in aqueous solution above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Howeva, while similarities are observed between the two processes, the coacervation of native... 

Chandler, D. 2005. Interfaces and the driving force of hydrophobic assembly. Nature. 437,640. Chapman, D. L. 1913. A contribution to the theory of electrocapillarity. LI. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philisophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 25, 475. Cheatham, T. E. and B. R. Brooks. 1998. Recent advances in molecular dynamics simulation toward the realistic representation of biomolecules in solution. Theoretical Chemistry Accounts. 99, 279. 

One of the most studied hydrophobically assembled dimeric capsule has been developed by Gibb and collaborators and is based on a deep partially water-soluble cavitand bearing eight carboxylic moieties and comprising a resorcin[4]arene scaffold with a second belt consisting of four aromatic rings to rigidify the structure. A third row of four aromatic residues is present to provide a hydrophobic rim that... 

The hydrophobic assembly provided effective water management at high humidity but poor performance under dry reactant conditions. The hydrophilic assembly provided acceptable performance over the entire range of RH conditions. Moreover, and more importantly in the context of durability, these authors used the RH sensitivity method to characterize the effect of ex situ aging on the hydrophobic... 

Chandler, D. (2005). Interfaces and the Driving Force of Hydrophobic Assembly, Nature, 437, pp. 640-647 Breslow, R. (2006). The Hydrophobic Effect in Reaction Mechanism Studies and in Catalysis byArtificial Enzymes,7. Phys. Org. Chem., 19, pp. 813-822 Pratt, L. andPohorille, A. (2002). Hydrophobic Effects and Modeling of Biophysical Aqueous Solution Interfaces, Chem. Rev., 102, pp. 2671-2692. 

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