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.

Tavagnacco, L., Zaccarelli, E., Chiessi, E. (2022). Modeling solution behavior of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide): a comparison between water models. JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. B, CONDENSED MATTER, MATERIALS, SURFACES, INTERFACES & BIOPHYSICAL, 126(20), 3778-3788 [10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c00637].

Modeling solution behavior of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide): a comparison between water models

Chiessi, Ester
2022-01-01

Abstract

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.
2022
Pubblicato
Rilevanza internazionale
Articolo
Esperti anonimi
Settore CHIM/02 - CHIMICA FISICA
English
Molecular Conformation
Polymers
Acrylic Resins
Water
Tavagnacco, L., Zaccarelli, E., Chiessi, E. (2022). Modeling solution behavior of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide): a comparison between water models. JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. B, CONDENSED MATTER, MATERIALS, SURFACES, INTERFACES & BIOPHYSICAL, 126(20), 3778-3788 [10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c00637].
Tavagnacco, L; Zaccarelli, E; Chiessi, E
Articolo su rivista
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2108/307896
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 3
  • Scopus 11
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 11
social impact