Remarks on Life Feasibility on the Red Planet

The current strong interest in the exploration of Mars leads to the question of the actual possibility of the presence or possible past or future development of life on the planet. Several clues suggest that liquid water could be stably present under the surface of Mars, but on the condition that it is rich in perchlorate salts, abundant in the Martian soil, which would allow for water to remain liquid at the very low temperatures found on the planet. In this work, the main evidence on the permissiveness of Martian environments to microbial life is reviewed, with particular attention to the evaluation of the tolerance limit to the perchlorates of different microorganisms. Furthermore, a reasonable theoretical approach is offered to calculate the stability of globular proteins in aqueous solutions rich in perchlorates, trying to provide, given the current lack of valid experimental data, a rational means to try to understand the behaviour of proteins in environmental conditions very far from those of Earth.

All-Atom Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the Temperature Response of Poly(glycidyl ether)s with Oligooxyethylene Side Chains Terminated with Alkyl Groups

Recently, experimental investigations of a class of temperature-responsive polymers tethered to oligooxyethylene side chains terminated with alkyl groups have been conducted. In this study, aqueous solutions of poly(glycidyl ether)s (PGE) with varying numbers of oxyethylene units, poly(methyl(oligooxyethylene)_n glycidyl ether) (poly(Me(EO)_nGE)), and poly(ethyl(oligooxyethylene)_n glycidyl ether) (poly(Et(EO)_nGE) (n = 0, 1, and 2) were investigated by all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, focusing on the thermal responses of their chain extensions, the recombination of intrapolymer and polymer-water hydrogen bonds, and water-solvation shells around the alkyl groups. No clear relationship was established between the phase-transition temperature and the polymer-chain extensions unlike the case for the coil-globule transition of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide). However, the temperature response of the first water-solvation shell around the alkyl group exhibited a notable correlation with the phase-transition temperature. In addition, the temperature at which the hydrophobic hydration shell strength around the terminal alkyl group equals the bulk water density (TCRP) was slightly lower than the cloud point temperature (TCLP) for the methyl-terminated poly(Me(EO)_nGE) and slightly higher for the ethyl-terminated poly(Et(EO)_nGE). It was concluded that the polymer-chain fluctuation affects the relationship between TCRP and TCLP.

Understanding specific ion effects and the Hofmeister series

Specific ion effects (SIE), encompassing the Hofmeister Series, have been known for more than 130 years since Hofmeister and Lewith's foundational work. SIEs are ubiquitous and are observed across the medical, biological, chemical and industrial sciences. Nevertheless, no general predictive theory has yet been able to explain ion specificity across these fields; it remains impossible to predict when, how, and to what magnitude, a SIE will be observed. In part, this is due to the complexity of real systems in which ions, counterions, solvents and cosolutes all play varying roles, which give rise to anomalies and reversals in anticipated SIEs. Herein we review the historical explanations for SIE in water and the key ion properties that have been attributed to them. Systems where the Hofmeister series is perturbed or reversed are explored, as is the behaviour of ions at the liquid-vapour interface. We discuss SIEs in mixed electrolytes, nonaqueous solvents, and in highly concentrated electrolyte solutions - exciting frontiers in this field with particular relevance to biological and electrochemical applications. We conclude the perspective by summarising the challenges and opportunities facing this SIE research that highlight potential pathways towards a general predictive theory of SIE.

Modeling Solution Behavior of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide): A Comparison between Water Models

Water is known to play a fundamental role in determining the structure and functionality of macromolecules. The same crucial contribution is also found in the in silico description of polymer aqueous solutions. In this work, we exploit the widely investigated synthetic polymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) to understand the effect of the adopted water model on its solution behavior and to refine the computational setup. By means of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we perform a comparative study of PNIPAM aqueous solution using two advanced water models: TIP4P/2005 and TIP4P/Ice. The conformation and hydration features of an atactic 30-mer at infinite dilution are probed at a range of temperature and pressure suitable to detect the coil-to-globule transition and to map the P–T phase diagram. Although both water models can reproduce the temperature-induced coil-to-globule transition at atmospheric pressure and the polymer hydration enhancement that occurs with increasing pressure, the PNIPAM–TIP4P/Ice solution shows better agreement with experimental findings. This result can be attributed to a stronger interaction of TIP4P/Ice water with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups of PNIPAM, as well as to a less favorable contribution of the solvent entropy to the coil-to-globule transition.

A Rationalization of the Effect That TMAO, Glycine, and Betaine Exert on the Collapse of Elastin-like Polypeptides

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are soluble in water at low temperature, but, on increasing the temperature, they undergo a reversible and cooperative, coil-to-globule collapse transition. It has been shown that the addition to water of either trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), glycine, or betaine causes a significant decrease of T(collapse) in the case of a specific ELP. Traditional rationalizations of these phenomena do not work in the present case. We show that an alternative approach, grounded in the magnitude of the solvent-excluded volume effect and its temperature dependence (strictly linked to the translational entropy of solvent and co-solute molecules), is able to rationalize the occurrence of ELP collapse in water on raising the temperature, as well as the T(collapse) lowering caused by the addition to water of either TMAO, glycine, or betaine.

Ionic effects on synthetic polymers: from solutions to brushes and gels

The ionic effects on synthetic polymers have attracted extensive attention due to the crucial role of ions in the determination of the properties of synthetic polymers. This review places the focus on specific ion effects, multivalent ion effects, and ionic hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity effects in synthetic polymer systems from solutions to brushes and gels. The specific ion effects on neutral polymers are determined by both the direct and indirect specific ion-polymer interactions, whereas the ion specificities of charged polymers are mainly dominated by the specific ion-pairing interactions. The ionic cross-linking effect exerted by the multivalent ions is widely used to tune the properties of polyelectrolytes, while the reentrant behavior of polyelectrolytes in the presence of multivalent ions still remains poorly understood. The ionic hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity effects not only can be applied to make strong polyelectrolytes thermosensitive, but also can be used to prepare polymeric nano-objects and to control the wettability of polyelectrolyte brush-modified surfaces. The not well-studied ionic hydrogen bond effects are also discussed in the last section of this review.

The role of osmolytes in the temperature-triggered conformational transition of poly(N-vinylcaprolactam): an experimental and computational study

Biomedical industries are widely exploring the use of thermo-responsive polymers (TRPs) in the advanced development of drug delivery and in many other pharmaceutical applications. There is a great need to investigate the use of less toxic and more (bio-)compatible TRPs employing several additives, which could modify the conformational transition behavior of TRPs in aqueous solution. To move forward in this aspect, we have chosen the less toxic bio-based polymer poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) and three different methylamine-based osmolytes, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), betaine and sarcosine, in order to investigate their particular interactions with the polymer segments in PVCL and therefore the corresponding changes in the thermo-responsive conformational behavior. Several biophysical techniques, UV-visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and laser Raman spectroscopy, as well as classical computer simulation methods such as molecular dynamics are employed in the current work. All the studied methylamines are found to favor the hydrophobic collapse of the polymer thus stabilizing the globular state of PVCL. Sarcosine is observed to cause the maximum decrease in lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of PVCL followed by TMAO and then betaine. The differences observed in the LCST values of PVCL in the presence of these molecules can be attributed to the different polymer-osmolyte interactions. The less sterically hindered N atom in the case of sarcosine causes a significant difference in the phase transition temperature values of PVCL compared to betaine and TMAO, where the nitrogen atom is buried by three methyl groups attached to it.

Effect of sodium thiocyanate and sodium perchlorate on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) collapse

The T(collapse) of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), PNIPAM, shows a nonlinear dependence on the concentration of NaSCN or NaClO4; in the case of NaClO4, for example, at very low concentrations of the salt, T(collapse) increases with the concentration, while it has an opposite trend at higher NaClO4 concentrations [J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 127, 14505]. These puzzling experimental data can be rationalized by considering that low charge density and poorly hydrated ions, such as thiocyanate and perchlorate, interact preferentially with the surface of the polymer, and cause an increase of the magnitude of the energetic term that stabilizes swollen conformations at low salt concentrations. However, as both swollen and collapsed PNIPAM conformations are accessible to such ions in view of their large conformational freedom, the difference in the number of ions bound to PNIPAM surface upon collapse changes little on increasing the salt concentration. Thus, the energetic term that favors swollen conformations increases with salt concentration to a lesser extent than the solvent-excluded volume term (linked to the density increase caused by salt addition to water), that favors collapsed conformations, leading to a nonlinear trend of T(collapse).

Anion Specificity Effects on the Interfacial Aggregation Behavior of Poly(lauryl acrylate)-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)

Aggregation behavior of an amphiphilic diblock copolymer poly(lauryl acrylate)-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PLA-b-PNIPAM) on neutral aqueous subphases with different salt species and salt concentrations, as well as the structures of its Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films, were systematically studied. The presence of NaCl or Na₂SO₄ in subphases makes PNIPAM chains shrink on the water surface and reduce their solubility underwater. On the contrary, the presence of NaNO₃ or NaSCN makes PNIPAM chains more stretched on water and increase their solubility underwater, whose stretch degree and solubility both increase with the increase of salt concentration. Solubility of PNIPAM chains in the above subphase solutions is ranked as NaSCN ≫ NaNO₃ > pure H₂O > NaCl ≈ Na₂SO₄, which is almost consistent with the Hofmeister series except for the latter two close cases. All the initial LB films of PLA-b-PNIPAM exhibit tiny isolated circular micelles. Upon compression, the LB films in the case of pure H₂O exhibit the dense mixed structures of circular micelles and wormlike aggregates. The formation of wormlike aggregates is due to connection of some adjoining cores, which is less possible in other subphase cases because of the conformation difference of PNIPAM chains.

Preparation of thermo-responsive PNIPAAm-MWCNT membranes and evaluation of its antifouling properties in dairy wastewater

A novel MWCNT-PNIPAAm nanocomposite membrane was developed with an excellent cleaning efficiency of thermo-responsive surface. The thermo-responsive N-isopropyle acryleamide (NIPAAm) monomer was polymerized on the surface of MWCNT via free radical polymerization. The prepared MWCNT-PNIPAAm nanocomposite was characterized by FTIR, SEM and TGA analyses. Various amounts of the prepared nanocomposite were incorporated into the membrane matrix by the physical blending method. The resultant membranes showed better surface wettability and pure water flux compared to pristine Polyethersulfone (PES) membrane. Furthermore, after filtration, the COD value of dairy wastewater was reduced to around 90% for all membranes. The thermo-responsive cleaning method was employed to investigate the cleaning efficiency of MWCNT-PNIPAAm membrane for dairy wastewater. The 99.9% flux recovery ratio was obtained for MWCNT-PNIPAAm-0.05% membranes. All these results confirmed that the presence of MWCNT-PNIPAAm nanocomposite in the membrane matrix improves the membrane hydrophilicity and antifouling properties.

Self-Assembly of Short Chain Poly- N-isopropylacrylamid Induced by Superchaotropic Keggin Polyoxometalates: From Globules to Sheets

We show here for the first time that short chain poly( N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), one of the most famous thermoresponsive polymers, self-assembles in water to form (i) discrete nanometer-globules and (ii) micrometric sheets with nm-thickness upon addition of the well-known Keggin-type polyoxometalate (POM) H₃PW₁₂O₄₀ (PW). The type of self-assembly is controlled by PW concentration: at low PW concentrations, PW adsorbs on PNIPAM chains to form globules consisting of homogeneously distributed PWs in PNIPAM droplets of several nm in size. Upon further addition of PW, a phase transition from globules to micrometric sheets is observed for PNIPAMs above a polymer critical chain length, between 18 and 44 repeating units. The thickness of the sheets is controlled by the PNIPAM chain length, here from 44 to 88 repeating units. The PNIPAM sheets are electrostatically stabilized PWs accumulated on each side of the sheets. The shortest PNIPAM chain with 18 repeating units produces PNIPAM/PW globules with 5-20 nm size but no sheets. The PW/PNIPAM self-assembly arises from a solvent mediated mechanism associated with the partial dehydration of PW and of the PNIPAM, which is related to the general propensity of POMs to adsorb on neutral hydrated surfaces. This effect, known as superchaotropy, is further highlighted by the significant increase in the lower critical solubilization temperature (LCST) of PNIPAM observed upon the addition of PW in the mM range. The influence of the POM nature on the self-assembly of PNIPAM was also investigated by using H₄SiW₁₂O₄₀ (SiW) and H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ (PMo), i.e. changing the POM's charge density or polarizability in order to get deeper understanding on the role of electrostatics and polarizability in the PNIPAM self-assembly process. We show here that the superchaotropic behavior of POMs with PNIPAM polymers enables the formation and the shape control of supramolecular organic-inorganic hybrids.

P-NIPAM in water–acetone mixtures: experiments and simulations

The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (p-NIPAM) diminishes when a small volume of acetone is added to the aqueous polymer solution, and then increases for further additions, producing a minimum at a certain acetone concentration.

Molecular dynamics study of the LCST transition in aqueous poly(N-n-propylacrylamide)

The breadth of technological applications of smart polymers relies on the possibility of tuning their molecular structure to respond to external stimuli. In this context, N-substituted acrylamide-based polymers are widely studied thermoresponsive polymers. Poly(N-n-propylacrylamide) (PNnPAm), which is a structural isomer of the poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) exhibits however, a lower phase transition in aqueous solution. In this work, we use all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of PNnPAm in aqueous solutions to study, from a microscopic point-of-view, the influence of chain size and concentration on the LCST of PNnPAm. Our analysis shows that the collapse of a single oligomer of PNnPAm upon heating is dependent on the chain length and corresponds to a complex interplay between hydration and intermolecular interactions. Analysis of systems with multiple chains shows an aggregation of PNnPAm chains above the LCST.

Comment on "Relating side chain organization of PNIPAm with its conformation in aqueous methanol" by D. Mukherji, M. Wagner, M. D. Watson, S. Winzen, T. E. de Oliveira, C. M. Marques and K. Kremer, Soft Matter, 2016, 12, 7995

In a recent article, Kremer and co-workers have combined NMR measurements and very long, all-atom MD simulations to strengthen their original claim that PNIPAM cononsolvency in water-methanol solutions is driven by the ability of MeOH molecules to bridge different monomers far away along the polymeric chain. In this comment, the results presented by Kremer and co-workers are reviewed, analyzed, and questioned regarding their ability to provide support to the bridging mechanism. Here, some pieces of evidence are provided to show that: (1) the solvent-excluded volume effect plays always a fundamental role in polymer collapse; (2) PNIPAM cononsolvency is caused by the geometric-energetic frustration experienced by the polymer when it can interact with both water and methanol molecules at the same time.

Effect of heavy water on the conformational stability of globular proteins

It is well established from the experimental point of view that the native state of globular proteins is more stable in heavy water than in water. No robust explanation, however, has been provided up to now. The application of the theoretical approach, originally devised to rationalize the general occurrence of cold denaturation, indicates that the magnitude of the solvent-excluded volume effect is slightly smaller in heavy water than in water and cannot explain the observed protein stabilization. The latter has to be due to the strength of protein-water van der Waals attractions which are weaker in heavy water due to the smaller molecular polarizability of D₂ O compared with that of H₂ O molecules. Since protein-water van der Waals attractions occur more in the denatured than in the native state, this contribution leads to a stabilization of the latter through a destabilization of the former.

Hydrostatic pressure effect on PNIPAM cononsolvency in water-methanol solutions

When methanol is added to water at room temperature and 1atm, poly (N-isopropylacrylamide), PNIPAM, undergoes a coil-to-globule collapse transition. This intriguing phenomenon is called cononsolvency. Spectroscopic measurements have shown that application of high hydrostatic pressure destroys PNIPAM cononsolvency in water-methanol solutions. We have developed a theoretical approach that identifies the decrease in solvent-excluded volume effect as the driving force of PNIPAM collapse on increasing the temperature. The same approach indicates that cononsolvency, at room temperature and P=1atm, is caused by the inability of PNIPAM to make all the attractive energetic interactions that it could be engaged in, due to competition between water and methanol molecules. The present analysis suggests that high hydrostatic pressure destroys cononsolvency because the coil state becomes more compact, and the quantity measuring PNIPAM-solvent attractions increases in magnitude due to the solution density increase, and the ability of small water molecules to substitute methanol molecules on PNIPAM surface.

A driving force for polypeptide and protein collapse

Polypeptide collapse is driven by the solvent-excluded volume decrease, the presence of nonpolar side chains is not so important.

Ion specificities of artificial macromolecules

Artificial macromolecules are well-defined synthetic polymers, with a relatively simple structure as compared to naturally occurring macromolecules. This review focuses on the ion specificities of artifical macromolecules. Ion specificities are influenced by solvent-mediated indirect ion-macromolecule interactions and also by direct ion-macromolecule interactions. In aqueous solutions, the role of water-mediated indirect ion-macromolecule interactions will be discussed. The addition of organic solvents to aqueous solutions significantly changes the ion specificities due to the formation of water-organic solvent complexes. For direct ion-macromolecule interactions, we will discuss specific ion-pairing interactions for charged macromolecules and specific ion-neutral site interactions for uncharged macromolecules. When the medium conditions change from dilute solutions to crowded environments, the ion specificities can be modified by either the volume exclusion effect, the variation of dielectric constant, or the interactions between ions, macromolecules, and crowding agents.

On urea's ability to stabilize the globule state of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)

Urea stabilizes the PNIPAM globule state because the increase in the solvent-excluded volume effect overwhelms the direct energetic interactions with the PNIPAM surface.

An alternative explanation of the cononsolvency of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) in water–methanol solutions

Water/methanol competition in the interaction with PNIPAM causes a decrease in the magnitude of attractive energy, leading to cononsolvency.

Statistical thermodynamics of aromatic–aromatic interactions in aqueous solution

To elucidate the interactions between aromatic rings, which are believed to play essential roles in a variety of biological processes, we analyze the water-mediated interactions between toluene molecules along face-to-face stacked (FF) and point-to-face T-shaped (TS) paths using a statistical-mechanical theory of liquids combined with a molecular model for water.

Mechanism of Polymer Collapse in Miscible Good Solvents

We propose a physical mechanism for co-nonsolvency of a stimulus-responsive polymer in water/methanol mixed solution based on results obtained with molecular simulations. Even though the phenomenon is well known, the mechanism behind co-nonsolvency is still under debate. Herein, we study co-nonsolvency of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNiPAM) in methanol aqueous solutions, the most widely studied and experimentally well-characterized system. Our results show that at low alcohol content of the solution methanol preferentially binds to the PNiPAM globule and drives polymer collapse. The energetics of electrostatic, hydrogen bonding, or bridging-type interactions with the globule is found to play no role. Instead, preferential methanol binding results in a significant increase in the globule's configurational entropy, stabilizing methanol-enriched globular structures over wet globular structures in neat water. This mechanism drives the reduction of the lower critical solution temperature with increasing methanol content in the co-nonsolvency regime and eventually leads to polymer collapse. The globule-to-coil re-entrance at high methanol concentrations is instead driven by changes in solvent-excluded volume of the coil and globular states imparted by a decrease in solvent density with increasing methanol content of the solution: with increasing proportion of larger solvent particles (methanol), the entropic (cavity formation) cost of redistributing solvent molecules upon polymer re-entrance becomes smaller. This effect provides a natural explanation for the experimentally observed dependence of the re-entrance transition on chain molecular weight.