Solvation behavior of chitosan monomers in aqueous [Hmim]CL solutions. Experimental and DFT studies

• Density and viscosity of GlcN·HCl and GlcNAc in aqueous solutions of [Hmim]Cl at T=293.15 to 318.15 K. • Positive Δ V ϕ 0 values suggest the predominance of the ionic/hydrophilic interactions. • Hydrophobic interactions became important at higher [Hmim]Cl concentrations. • GlcN·HCl is a better structure-maker than GlcNAc in studied solutions. • Structures of GlcN·HCl, GlcNAc and [Hmim]Cl were optimized in gas phase by Density Functional Theory. This paper reports densities and viscosities for the mixtures of D-glucosamine hydrochloride (GlcN·HCl) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) with aqueous solutions of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, [Hmim]Cl, between 293.15 and 318.15 K in 5 K increments and atmospheric pressure. Leveraging this data, we calculated volumetric properties such as apparent molar volume, V ϕ , limiting partial molar volume, V ϕ 0 , and standard molar volume of transfer, Δ V ϕ 0 . We handled viscosity data to compute the viscosity B -coefficient and several activation parameters of viscous flow. Some of these are relevant in discussing interactions between monosaccharides (solute) and [Hmim]Cl (co-solvent) in aqueous media. The solute–solvent interactions were discussed based on ionic/ hydrophilic/ hydrophobic interactions using the co-sphere overlap model. Δ V ϕ 0 > 0 indicates that ionic/hydrophilic interactions predominate in the studied systems and are stronger in GlcN·HCl solutions than in GlcNAc at low [Hmim]Cl molalities. At higher [Hmim]Cl concentrations, decreasing values of Δ V ϕ 0 suggest the dominance of hydrophobic interactions over hydrophilic/ionic ones. We discuss (using Hepler’s constant and viscosity B -coefficient) the ability of monosaccharides to act as structure maker/breaker in aqueous [Hmim]Cl solutions. This indicates that GlcNAc is a better structure promoter than GlcN⋅HCl in aqueous [Hmim]Cl solutions. Finally, density functional theory (DFT) was used to model the molecular structure and compute the solute–solvent interaction energies using the GAMESS 2016 software.