Hydrophobic Association in Urea–Water Solutions: A Structural and Thermodynamic Perspective
-pentane is observed in the 2 M urea-water solution, with the association strength following the order NEO-NEO > ISO-ISO > PEN-PEN, highlighting the influence of molecular branching. Urea becomes increasingly enriched in the first solvation shell, accompanied by a reduction in local water density. Conditional solvation free energies of hydrophobes become less positive with increasing urea concentration, showing the salting-in effect of urea on hydrophobes.
Authors
- Mayank Dixit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2956-6756)
- Takashi Taniguchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0017-7669)
- Timir Hajari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3726-0872)
Institutions
- Kyoto University (JP)
- Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira (IN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry B
- Published
- 2026-04-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.6c00092
- Primary Topic
- Protein Structure and Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Kyoto University
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology