Coarse-Grain Molecular Dynamics Simulations To Investigate the Bulk Viscosity and Critical Micelle Concentration of the Ionic Surfactant Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) in Aqueous Solution.

The first critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the ionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in diluted aqueous solution has been determined at room temperature from the investigation of the bulk viscosity, at several concentrations of SDS, by means of coarse-grain molecular dynamics simulations. The coarse-grained model molecules at the mesoscale level are adopted. The bulk viscosity of SDS was calculated at several millimolar concentrations of SDS in water using the MARTINI force field by means of NVT shear Mesocite molecular dynamics. The definition of each bead in the MARTINI force field is established, as well as their radius, volume, and mass. The effect of the size of the simulation box on the obtained CMC has been investigated, as well as the effect of the number of SDS molecules, in the simulations, on the formation of aggregates. The CMC, which was obtained from a graph of the calculated viscosities versus concentration, is in good agreement with the reported experimental data and does not depend on the size of the box used in the simulation. The formation of a spherical micelle-like aggregate is observed, where the dodecyl sulfate tails point inward and the heads point outward the aggregation micelle, in accordance with experimental observations. The advantage of using coarse-grain molecular dynamics is the possibility of treating explicitly charged beads, applying a shear flow for viscosity calculation, and processing much larger spatial and temporal scales than atomistic molecular dynamics can. Furthermore, the CMC of SDS obtained with the coarse-grained model is in much better agreement with the experimental value than the value obtained with atomistic simulations.

Electronic structure, molecular interaction, and stability of the CH4-nH2O complex, for n = 1-21.

Molecular calculations were carried out with four different methodologies to study the CH 4- nH 2O complex, for n = 1-21. The HF and MP2 methods used considered the O atom with pseudopotential to freeze the 1s shell. The other methodologies applied the Bhandhlyp and B3lyp exchange and correlation functionals. The optimized CH 4- nH 2O structures are reported, specifying the number and type of H 2O subunits (triangle, square, pentagon, etc.) that comprised the nH 2O counterpart cluster or cage, that interacted with the CH 4 molecule, and, in the latter case, that provided its confinement. Results are focused to understand the stability of the CH 4- nH 2O complex. The quality of the electron correlation effect, as well as the size of the nH 2O cage to confine the guest molecule, and the number and type of H 2O subunits comprising the nH 2O cluster or cage are the most important factors to provide the stability of the complex and also dictate the particular n value at which the CH 4 molecule confinement occurs. This number was 14 for the HF, Bhandhlyp, and B3Lyp methods and 16 for the MP2 method. The reported hydrate structures for n < 20 could be predictive for future experiments.

Computational study on the antifreeze glycoproteins as inhibitors of clathrate-hydrate formation.

The ability of antifreeze glycoproteins to inhibit clathrate-hydrate formation is studied using DFT. A 5(12) cavity, dodecahedral (H(2)O)(20), and the AATA peptide are used to model the inhibitor-clathrate interaction. The presence of AATA in the vicinity of the water cavities not only leads to the formation of complexes, with different peptide/cavity ratios, but also to the deformation of the cavity and to the elongation of several of the hydrogen bonds responsible for keeping the dodecahedral (H(2)O)(20) together. The complexes are formed through hydrogen bonding between the peptides and the water cavities. The glycoproteins are expected to anchor onto the clathrate surface, blocking the access of new water molecules and preventing the incipient crystals from growing. They are also expected to weaken the clathrate structure. Amide IR bands are associated with the complexes' formation. They are significantly red-shifted in the hydrogen-bonded systems compared to isolated AATA. The amide A band is the most sensitive to hydrogen bonding. In addition a distinctive band around 3100 cm(-1) is proposed for the identification of clathrate-peptide hydrogen-bonded complexes.

Phase diagram and surface tension of the hard-core attractive Yukawa model of variable range: Monte Carlo simulations.

The liquid-vapor phase diagram and surface tension for hard-core Yukawa potential with 4