Interplay of vitrification and ice formation in a cryoprotectant aqueous solution at low temperature.

The proneness of water to crystallize is a major obstacle to understanding its putative exotic behavior in the supercooled state. It also represents a strong practical limitation to cryopreservation of biological systems. Adding some concentration of glycerol, which has a cryoprotective effect preventing, to some degree, water crystallization, has been proposed as a possible way out, provided the concentration is small enough for water to retain some of its bulk character and/or for limiting the damage caused by glycerol on living organisms. Contrary to previous expectations, we show that, in the "marginal" glycerol molar concentration ≈ 18%, at which vitrification is possible with no crystallization on rapid cooling, water crystallizes upon isothermal annealing even below the calorimetric glass transition of the solution. Through a time-resolved polarized neutron scattering investigation, we extract key parameters, size and shape of the ice crystallites, fraction of water that crystallizes, and crystallization time, which are important for cryoprotection, as a function of the annealing temperature. We also characterize the nature of the out-of-equilibrium liquid phases that are present at low temperature, providing more arguments against the presence of an isocompositional liquid­liquid transition. Finally, we propose a rule of thumb to estimate the lower temperature limit below which water crystallization does not occur in aqueous solutions.

Direct Synthesis of Mesoporous Organosilica and Proof-of-Concept Applications in Lysozyme Adsorption and Supported Catalysis.

Mesoporous materials represent a useful alternative for exploiting the effects of confinement on molecular trapping and catalysis. Their efficiency often depends on the interactions between the surface and the targeted molecules. One way to enhance these interactions is to adjust the hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance of the surface. In the case of mesoporous silica, the incorporation of organic groups is an efficient solution to adapt the material for specific applications. In this work, we have used the co-condensation method to control the hydrophobicity of mesoporous organosilica. The obtained materials are methyl- or phenyl-containing silica with a pore size between 3 and 5 nm. The surface chemistry control has shown the enhanced performance of the materials in two proof-of-concept (PoC) applications: lysozyme adsorption and supported catalysis. The lysozyme adsorption is observed to be over 3 times more efficient with the phenyl-functionalized material than MCM-41, due to π-π interactions. For the catalysis, copper(II) was immobilized on the organosilica surface. In this case, the presence of methyl groups significantly enhanced the product yield for the catalyzed synthesis of a triazole derivative; this was attributed to the enhanced hydrophobic surface-reactant interactions. It was also found that the materials have a higher water adsorption capacity and an improved resistance to hydrolysis. The modulation of water properties in confinement with hydrophobic surfaces, consistently with the water as tuneable solvent (WaTuSo) concept, is a crucial aspect in the efficiency of mesoporous materials for dedicated applications.

Dopant effects on 2-ethyl-1-hexanol: a dual-channel impedance spectroscopy and neutron scattering study.

A two-channel impedance technique has been used to study the relaxation behavior of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol with polar and non-polar dopants at the few percent concentration level over a wide temperature and frequency range. The non-polar dopants shift both the Debye and the primary structural relaxation time in the same direction, to shorter times for 3-methylpentane and to longer times for squalane, consistent with the relative glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the components. By contrast, polar dopants such as water or methanol modify the α-process towards slower dynamics and increased amplitude, while the Debye process is accelerated and with a decreased amplitude. This effect of adding water to alcohol is explained by water promoting more compact structures with reduced Kirkwood correlation factors. This picture is consistent with a shift in the neutron scattering pre-peak to lower scattering vectors and with simulation work on alcohol-water systems.

Dynamics of glass-forming liquids. XVII. Dielectric relaxation and intermolecular association in a series of isomeric octyl alcohols.

It is well established that many mono-hydroxy alcohols show an extra relaxation process of the Debye type in addition to the signatures of primary and secondary structural relaxations, which is observed only in dielectric spectroscopy and related techniques. In order to gain further insight into the nature of this Debye peak, we study the linear and nonlinear dielectric behavior of a series of isomeric octyl alcohols and of mixtures of n-propanol with one of the octanols. These samples display systematic variations of the Debye peak intensity and concomitant changes in the Kirkwood correlation factor gK from 0.1 to 4, indicative of different equilibrium constants, K(c∕r), that characterize the populations of non-polar ring and polar open chain structures. For cases where K(c∕r) is not too far from unity, we find that a high electric field shifts K(c∕r) towards more chains, and that the accompanying change in the end-to-end vector of hydrogen-bond connected structures occurs on the Debye time scale. The results suggest that gK is correlated with the spectral separation of the Debye and primary structural peaks, as both features depend on steric hindrance of chain flexibility or bond rotation barriers and on average chain lengths. Based on the complex dynamics of supercooled mono-hydroxy alcohols with three relaxation peaks that cover many orders of magnitude in frequency, it is argued that a frequency dependent gK may be required for assessing the average orientational correlations within hydrogen-bonded structures correctly.

Adsorption, structure and dynamics of benzene in ordered and disordered porous carbons.

Molecular simulations are used to study the adsorption, structure, and dynamics of benzene at 298 K in atomistic models of ordered and disordered nanoporous carbons. The ordered porous carbon is a regular slit pore made up of graphene sheets. The disordered porous carbon is a structural model that reproduces the morphological (pore shape) and topological (pore connectivity) disorder of saccharose-based porous carbons. As expected for pores of a regular geometry, the filling occurs at well-defined pressures which are an increasing function of the pore width H. In contrast, in qualitative agreement with experimental data for activated carbon fibers, the filling of the disordered carbon is continuous and spans over a large pressure range. The structure and dynamics of benzene in the disordered carbon also strongly depart from that for the slit pore geometry. While benzene in the slit graphite nanopores exhibits significant layering, benzene in the disordered porous carbon exhibits a liquid-like structure very close to its bulk counterpart. Both the ordering and self-diffusivity of benzene in the graphite nanopores depend in a complex manner on the pore width. The dynamics is either slower or faster than its bulk counterpart; our data show that the self-diffusivity decreases as the number of confined layers n divided by the pore width H increases (except for very small pore sizes for which benzene crystallizes and is necessarily slower than the liquid phase). The dynamics of benzene in the disordered porous carbon is isotropic and is much slower than that for the graphite slit nanopores (even with the smallest slit nanopore considered in this work). The results above show that the adsorption, structure, and dynamics of benzene confined in disordered porous carbons cannot be described in simple terms using an ideal model such as the slit pore geometry.

H(2) formation by electron irradiation of SBA-15 materials and the effect of Cu(II) grafting.

Measurement of H(2) production from electron irradiation (10 MeV) on SBA-15 materials has shown that adsorbed water is attacked preferentially. Silanol groups are only attacked when they are in the majority with respect to adsorbed water, however they are much less efficient at producing H(2). The comparison between water content before and after electron irradiation and the corresponding H(2) production indicates that water desorption is the main route to adsorbed water loss for SBA-15 materials. On the other hand, surface silanol groups are more susceptible to attack, leading to H(2) production when SBA-15 samples have undergone extensive thermal treatment. Electron irradiation of SBA-15-Cu materials has shown that the presence of Cu(II) on the surface reduces and inhibits the production of H(2.) This inhibiting power affects adsorbed water bonded to grafted copper but not surface silanol groups.

Connection between slow and fast dynamics of molecular liquids around the glass transition.

The mean-square displacement (MSD) was measured by neutron scattering at various temperatures and pressures for a number of molecular glass-forming liquids. The MSD is invariant along the glass-transition line at the pressure studied, thus establishing an "intrinsic" Lindemann criterion for any given liquid. A one-to-one connection between the MSD's temperature dependence and the liquid's fragility is found when the MSD is evaluated on a time scale of ∼4 ns , but does not hold when the MSD is evaluated at shorter times. The findings are discussed in terms of the elastic model and the role of relaxations, and the correlations between slow and fast dynamics are addressed.

A thermodynamic limit of the melting/freezing processes of water under strongly hydrophobic nanoscopic confinement.

We studied liquid water confined within nanopores which present a high level of hydrophobicity thanks to a new method of synthesis. We found that the liquid state persists down to temperatures much lower than in the bulk and in hydrophilic materials of comparable sizes, allowing us to define a thermodynamic limit for the melting/crystallization of water.

Adsorption and structure of benzene on silica surfaces and in nanopores.

Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations are used to study the adsorption of benzene on atomistic silica surfaces and in cylindrical nanopores. The effect of temperature and surface chemistry is addressed by studying the adsorption of benzene at 293 and 323 K on both fully and partially hydroxylated silica surfaces or nanopores. We also consider the adsorption of benzene in a cylindrical nanopore of diameter D=3.6 nm and compare our results with those obtained for planar surfaces. The structure of benzene in the vicinity of the planar surface and confined in the cylindrical nanopore is determined by calculating orientational order parameters and examining positional pair correlation functions. The density profiles of adsorbed benzene reveal the strong layering of the adsorbate, which decays with the distance from the silica surface. At a given temperature and at low pressures, the film adsorbed at the fully hydroxylated silica surface is larger than that for the partially hydroxylated silica surface. This result is due to an increase in the density of silanol groups that induces an increase in the polarity of the silica surface, which becomes more attractive for the adsorbate. Our results also suggest that the benzene molecules prefer an orientation in which their ring is nearly perpendicular to the surface when fully hydroxylated surfaces are considered. When partially hydroxylated surfaces are considered, a second preferential orientation is observed where the benzene ring forms an angle of approximately 50 degrees with the silica surface. In this case, the average orientation of the benzene molecules appears disordered as in the bulk phase. These results suggest that determining the experimental orientation of benzene in the vicinity of a silica surface is a difficult task even when the surface chemistry is known. Capillary condensation in the nanopores involves a transition from a partially filled pore (a thin film adsorbed at the pore surface) to a completely filled pore configuration where the confined liquid coexists at equilibrium with the external gas phase. The disordered orientation of the adsorbed benzene molecules in the case of the partially hydroxylated surface favors the condensation of benzene molecules (the condensation pressure for this substrate is lower than that for the fully hydroxylated surface). Finally, these results are consistent with the structural analysis, showing that (1) benzene tends to relax its liquid structure a little in order to optimize its molecular arrangement near the pore wall and (2) the disordering of the liquid structure induced by the surface becomes stronger as the interaction with the pore wall increases.

trans-Decahydronaphthalene (decalin) from powder diffraction data.

The title compound, C(10)H(18), a decalin stereoisomer, crystallizes with Z' = 0.5 in the space group P2(1)/n. The trans-decalin molecule is located on an inversion centre with both rings in a chair conformation, making for a quasi-flat overall shape. Despite the absence of hydrogen bonds, it crystallizes easily. In this work the unknown crystal structure of trans-decalin has been solved and refined using X-ray powder diffraction data.

Glassy properties and viscous slowing down: An analysis of the correlation between nonergodicity factor and fragility.

We present an extensive analysis of the proposed relationship [T. Scopigno et al., Science 302, 849 (2003)] between the fragility of glass-forming liquids and the nonergodicity factor as measured by inelastic x-ray scattering. We test the robustness of the correlation through the investigation of the relative change under pressure of the speed of sound, nonergodicity factor, and broadening of the acoustic exitations of a molecular glass former, cumene, and of a polymer, polyisobutylene. For polyisobutylene, we also perform a similar study by varying its molecular weight. Moreover, we have included new results on liquids presenting an exceptionally high fragility index m under ambient conditions. We show that the linear relation, proposed by Scopigno et al. [Science 302, 849 (2003)] between fragility, measured in the liquid state, and the slope alpha of the inverse nonergodicity factor as a function of T/T(g), measured in the glassy state, is not verified when increasing the data base. In particular, while there is still a trend in the suggested direction at atmospheric pressure, its consistency is not maintained by introducing pressure as an extra control parameter modifying the fragility: whatever is the variation in the isobaric fragility, the inverse nonergodicity factor increases or remains constant within the error bars, and one observes a systematic increase in the slope alpha when the temperature is scaled by T(g)(P). To avoid any particular aspects that might cause the relation to fail, we have replaced the fragility by other related properties often evoked, e.g., thermodynamic fragility, for the understanding of its concept. Moreover, we find, as previously proposed by two of us [K. Niss and C. Alba-Simionesco, Phys. Rev. B 74, 024205 (2006)], that the nonergodicity factor evaluated at the glass transition qualitatively reflects the effect of density on the relaxation time even though in this case no clear quantitative correlations appear.

Probing the flexibility of the bacterial reaction center: the wild-type protein is more rigid than two site-specific mutants.

Experimental and theoretical studies have stressed the importance of flexibility for protein function. However, more local studies of protein dynamics, using temperature factors from crystallographic data or elastic models of protein mechanics, suggest that active sites are among the most rigid parts of proteins. We have used quasielastic neutron scattering to study the native reaction center protein from the purple bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides, over a temperature range of 4-260 K, in parallel with two nonfunctional mutants both carrying the mutations L212Glu/L213Asp --> Ala/Ala (one mutant carrying, in addition, the M249Ala --> Tyr mutation). The so-called dynamical transition temperature, Td, remains the same for the three proteins around 230 K. Below Td the mean square displacement, u2, and the dynamical structure factor, S(Q,omega), as measured respectively by backscattering and time-of-flight techniques are identical. However, we report that above Td, where anharmonicity and diffusive motions take place, the native protein is more rigid than the two nonfunctional mutants. The higher flexibility of both mutant proteins is demonstrated by either their higher u2 values or the notable quasielastic broadening of S(Q,omega) that reveals the diffusive nature of the motions involved. Remarkably, we demonstrate here that in proteins, point genetic mutations may notably affect the overall protein dynamics, and this effect can be quantified by neutron scattering. Our results suggest a new direction of investigation for further understanding of the relationship between fast dynamics and activity in proteins. Brownian dynamics simulations we have carried out are consistent with the neutron experiments, suggesting that a rigid core within the native protein is specifically softened by distant point mutations. L212Glu, which is systematically conserved in all photosynthetic bacteria, seems to be one of the key residues that exerts a distant control over the rigidity of the core of the protein.

On the correlation between fragility and stretching in glass-forming liquids.

We study the pressure and temperature dependences of the dielectric relaxation of two molecular glass-forming liquids, dibutyl phthalate and m-toluidine. We focus on two characteristics of the slowing down of relaxation, the fragility associated with the temperature dependence and the stretching characterizing the relaxation function. We combine our data with data from the literature to revisit the proposed correlation between these two quantities. We do this in light of constraints that we suggest to put on the search for empirical correlations among properties of glass-formers. In particular, we argue that a meaningful correlation is to be looked for between stretching and isochoric fragility, as both seem to be constant under isochronic conditions and thereby reflect the intrinsic effect of temperature.

Phase diagram and glass transition of confined benzene.

We used differential scanning calorimetry, neutron scattering, and proton NMR to investigate the phase behavior, the structure, and the dynamics of benzene confined in a series of cylindrical mesoporous materials MCM-41 and SBA-15 with pore diameters, d, between 2.4 and 14 nm. With this multitechnique approach, it was possible to determine the structure and, for the first time to our knowledge, the density of confined benzene as a function of temperature and pore size. Under standard cooling rates, benzene partially crystallizes in SBA-15 matrixes (4.7

Structure of liquid and glassy methanol confined in cylindrical pores.

We present a neutron scattering analysis of the density and the static structure factor of confined methanol at various temperatures. Confinement is performed in the cylindrical pores of MCM-41 silicates with pore diameters D=24 and 35 A. A change of the thermal expansivity of confined methanol at low temperature is the signature of a glass transition, which occurs at higher temperature for the smallest pore. This is evidence of a surface induced slowing down of the dynamics of the fluid. The structure factor presents a systematic evolution with the pore diameter, which has been analyzed in terms of excluded volume effects and fluid-matrix cross correlation. Conversely to the case of Van der Waals fluids, it shows that stronger fluid-matrix correlations must be invoked most probably in relation with the H-bonding character of both methanol and silicate surface.