Hydrophobic interactions surface tension

In phagocytosis, large particles bind to the surface of the cell by hydrophobic interactions, surface tension or through attachment to specific cell-surface receptors. Particle-cell contact initiates a series of biochemical events which result in the envelopment of the particle by the membrane. The particle is drawn into the cell and is degraded by the lysosomal enzymes. 

Heretofore, ionic liquids incorporating the 1,3-dialkylimidazolium cation have been preferred as they interact weakly with the anions and are more thermally stable than the quaternary ammonium cations. Recently, the physical properties of 1,2,3,4-tetraalkylimidazolium- and 1,3-dialkylimidazolium-containing ionic liquids in combination with various hydrophobic and hydrophilic anions have been systematically investigated (36,41). The melting point, thermal stability, density, viscosity, and other physical properties have been correlated with alkyl chain length of the imidazolium cation and the nature of the anion. The anion mainly determines water miscibility and has the most dramatic effect on the properties. An increase in the alkyl chain length of the cations from butyl to octyl, for example, increases the hydrophobicity and viscosity of the ionic liquid, whereas densities and surface tension values decrease, as expected. 

Changes in the magnitude of In k with solvent concentration in peptide-ligand interactions in RPC involving hydrophobic effects can also be related in solvophobic terms to the chemical potential, Ap°, for the process, or to the surface tension, y, of the mobile phase through the following expressions ... 

What occurs when two hydrophobic molecules, susceptible to reaction, are put together in aqueous solution Due to the hydrophobic interaction, they have a tendency to aggregate, but this association is not sufficient to explain the rate enhancement. Noteworthy is the high surface tension of water (72 dynes/cm), a consequence of its high c.e.d. (550 cal/cm or 22000 atm), which tends to induce a diminution of the surface of contact between hydrophobic and water molecules. This process is facilitated by a decrease of the volume of the reactants along the reaction coordinate. 

Bioreactions. The use of supercritical fluids, and in particular C02, as a reaction media for enzymatic catalysis is growing. High diffusivities, low surface tensions, solubility control, low toxicity, and minimal problems with solvent residues all make SCFs attractive. In addition, other advantages for using enzymes in SCFs instead of water include reactions where water is a product, which can be driven to completion increased solubilities of hydrophobic materials increased biomolecular thermostability and the potential to integrate both the reaction and separation bioprocesses into one step (98). There have been a number of biocatalysis reactions in SCFs reported (99—101). The use of lipases shows perhaps the most commercial promise, but there are a number of issues remaining unresolved, such as solvent—enzyme interactions and the influence of the reaction environment. A potential area for increased research is the synthesis of monodisperse biopolymers in supercritical fluids (102). 

The salt effects of potassium bromide and a series office symmetrical tetraalkylammonium bromides on vapor-liquid equilibrium at constant pressure in various ethanol-water mixtures were determined. For these systems, the composition of the binary solvent was held constant while the dependence of the equilibrium vapor composition on salt concentration was investigated these studies were done at various fixed compositions of the mixed solvent. Good agreement with the equation of Furter and Johnson was observed for the salts exhibiting either mainly electrostrictive or mainly hydrophobic behavior however, the correlation was unsatisfactory in the case of the one salt (tetraethylammonium bromide) where these two types of solute-solvent interactions were in close competition. The transition from salting out of the ethanol to salting in, observed as the tetraalkylammonium salt series is ascended, was interpreted in terms of the solute-solvent interactions as related to physical properties of the system components, particularly solubilities and surface tensions. 

The energetically unfavorable interactions of the hydrophobic tails with the water molecules are then minimized by the surfactants forming aggregates with other surfactant molecules. In those aggregates, the hydrophilic headgroups remain solvated by water molecules while the hydrocarbon moieties are shielded from water and create a hydrophobic microenvironment. Examples of these spontaneously formed aggregates are micelles and lamellae. The intersection of the extrapolations of the linear parts of the surface tension curve (Figure 17.2) is the critical micelle concentration (CMC). 

Hydrophobic binding. The hydrophobic effect can have both enthalpic and entropic components, although the classical hydrophobic effect is entropic in origin (Section 1.9.1). Studies on the associations between planar aromatic molecules show an approximately linear relationship between the interaction energy and their mutual contact surface area with slope 64 dyn cm-1, very close to the macroscopic surface tension of water (72 dyn cm-1). Hence, in the absence of specific host or guest interactions with the solvent the hydrophobic effect can be calculated solely from the energy required to create a free surface of 1 A2 which amounts to 7.2 X 10 12 J or 0.43 kjA 2 mol. ... 

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