Molecular mobility, dynamics

Molecular mobility (dynamics) 0.5-500 nm Relaxation times and line-shapes multidimensional exchange experiments... 

Roudaut et al. (1999a) used low-frequency pulsed-proton NMR and dielectric dynamic mechanical spectroscopies to study molecular mobility in glassy bread (<9%) as a function of temperature. Based on NMR results, they reported that some (if not all) of the water molecules were much more mobile than the polymer matrix whose relaxation time could not be measured within the 20-p,s dead time of the RF probe. 

Luck, W.A.P. 1981. Structures of water in aqueous systems. In Water Activity Influences on Food Quality (L.B. Rockland and G.F. Stewart, eds), pp. 407 134. Academic Press, New York. Ludescher, R.D., Shah, N.K., McCaul, C.P., and Simon, K.V. 2001. Beyond Tg Optical luminescence measurements of molecular mobility in amorphous solid foods. Food Hydro colloids 15, 331-339. Ludwig, R. 2001. Water From cluster to the bulk. Angewandte Chem. Int. Ed. 40, 1808-1827. Maclnnes, W.M. 1993. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis of sucrose solutions. In The Glassy State in Foods (J.M.V. Blanshard and PJ. Lillford, eds), pp. 223-248. Nottingham Univ. Press, Loughborough, Leicestershire. 

Photophysical Studies of Molecular Mobility in Polymer Films and Bulk Polymers. 3. Dynamic Excimer Formation of Pyrene in Bulk PDMS, Macromolecules 23, 2217-2222. 

Fluorescence is also a powerful tool for investigating the structure and dynamics of matter or living systems at a molecular or supramolecular level. Polymers, solutions of surfactants, solid surfaces, biological membranes, proteins, nucleic acids and living cells are well-known examples of systems in which estimates of local parameters such as polarity, fluidity, order, molecular mobility and electrical potential is possible by means of fluorescent molecules playing the role of probes. The latter can be intrinsic or introduced on purpose. The high sensitivity of fluo-rimetric methods in conjunction with the specificity of the response of probes to their microenvironment contribute towards the success of this approach. Another factor is the ability of probes to provide information on dynamics of fast phenomena and/or the structural parameters of the system under study. 

An indirect indication of the presence of interactions between micellar phase and drugs is given by molecular and dynamic parameters of the drug and the micelles (ionic mobility, diffusion coefficient, hydrodynamic radius, apparent molecular mass), which are altered by the solubilization of lipophilic substances in a significant manner. 

The dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer (DMTA) is an important tool for studying the structure-property relationships in polymer nanocomposites. DMTA essentially probes the relaxations in polymers, thereby providing a method to understand the mechanical behavior and the molecular structure of these materials under various conditions of stress and temperature. The dynamics of polymer chain relaxation or molecular mobility of polymer main chains and side chains is one of the factors that determine the viscoelastic properties of polymeric macromolecules. The temperature dependence of molecular mobility is characterized by different transitions in which a certain mode of chain motion occurs. A reduction of the tan 8 peak height, a shift of the peak position to higher temperatures, an extra hump or peak in the tan 8 curve above the glass transition temperature (Tg), and a relatively high value of the storage modulus often are reported in support of the dispersion process of the layered silicate. 

The application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to polymer systems has contributed to significant advances in understanding of their structure and dynamical properties at the molecular level. From the analytical point of view, NMR spectroscopy is particularly suitable for a determination of the polymer structure by direct observation of the protons and carbons in different structural moieties. However, until the mid-1970s the application of this technique was limited to polymer solutions and to some elastomers in the solid state with a relatively high degree of the molecular mobility which allows the observation of the motionally narrowed absorption signals. 

Of the thermodynamic quantities just mentioned, only the determination of the expansion coefficient or other quantities reflecting its change have assumed practical importance for the identification of secondary transitions in glassy polymers. The most efficient methods for the investigation of the dynamics and intensity of molecular motions have so far been those based on the interference between molecular motion and the oscillating magnetic, electric or mechanical force field. In recent years, methods which employ various probes or labels in the study of molecular mobility have increasingly been used. 

Dynamic methods rank among those most frequently used for molecular mobility studies in polymers. Their principles and application have been described in detail1,4. The dynamic methods mentioned below differ in their selectivity, measuring frequency and frequency range covered. The results obtained by these methods can be combined if molecular mobility is to be studied in greater detail. 

To elucidate the phase structure in detail it is necessary to characterize the molecular chain conformation and dynamics in each phase. However, it is rather difficult to obtain such molecular information, particularly of the noncrystalline component, because it is substantially amorphous. In early research in this field, broad-line H NMR analysis showed that linear polyethylene crystallized from the melt comprises three components with different molecular mobilities solid, liquid-like and intermediate molecular mobility [13-16]. The solid component was attributed to molecules in the crystalline region, the liquid component to... 

Recent work by Zhang and LeBoeuf (in review) examined the effects of the presence of three solvents—water, acetone, and benzene—on the molecular mobility and structural relaxation of a humic acid through DSC analysis combined with molecular dynamics. Again, antiplasticization behavior was observed in two of the three systems (i.e., HA-water and HA-acetone) where solvents present in relatively low concentrations exhibited potential to form hydrogen bonds with the humic acid. Antiplasticization and plasticization behaviors were further interpreted from the perspective of hydrogen bonding analysis and free volume theory. 

Although molecular mobility is severely restricted below the glass transition temperature, the dynamic glass transition temperature (main transition or, conventionally -relaxation) in polymers as it have been described above, is usually accompanied by subglass secondary relaxations labeled as p, y, S, relaxations. The glass transition at low temperatures is assumed to be caused by the cooperative motion of many particles, while the secondary relaxations have a more localized molecular... 

To summarize briefly the use of nmr methods for the structural and dynamic problems at hand, a first class of applications is the direct observation of the nuclei present in the solid support (29Si, 27A1, 170, in the first place). Alternatively, one may examine nuclei of ionic species (23Na, 35C1, 39K, etc.) or of neutrals ( H, 13C, etc.) interacting with the clay surface. In this second mode, one reaps information about restriction in ionic or molecular mobility, translational and reorientational, due to the proximity of the aluminosilicate solid surface. 

For elastomers and rubbery-like materials well above the T, the high molecular mobility reduces the dipolar couplings dramatically. The WISE experiment allows one to investigate site-selectively residual dipolar interactions and thus molecular dynamics by editing the corresponding proton slices of the 2D data set. 

For the investigation of the molecular dynamics in polymers, deuteron solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (2D-NMR) spectroscopy has been shown to be a powerful method [1]. In the field of viscoelastic polymers, segmental dynamics of poly(urethanes) has been studied intensively by 2D-NMR [78, 79]. In addition to ID NMR spectroscopy, 2D NMR exchange spectroscopy was used to extend the time scale of molecular dynamics up to the order of milliseconds or even seconds. In combination with line-shape simulation, this technique allows one to obtain correlation times and correlation-time distributions of the molecular mobility as well as detailed information about the geometry of the motional process [1]. 

Another important area of dynamic studies in biological samples is the effect of hydration upon molecular mobility in proteins and carbohydrates. The reason for these studies is primarily that protein dynamics, in particular, are crucial to their function, and so examining factors, such as the degree of hydration, that affect their dynamics is very important. However, it is obviously near-impossible to study dynamics in aqueous solution as a function of degree of hydration, and, since most proteins are not soluble in nonaqueous solvents, solid-state studies must be used. The motions at three methionine (Met) residues in Streptomyces subtilisin inhibitor (SSI) were studied with 2H NMR using a sample in which the Met residues at two crucial enzyme recognition sites (PI and P4) were specifically deuterated, along with one in the hydrophobic core.114 The motions of the Met side-chains were then examined... 

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