Origin of the hydration force: water-mediated interaction between two hydrophilic plates.
We performed molecular dynamics simulations on systems containing phosphatidycholine headgroups attached to graphene plates (PC-headgroup plates) immersed in water to study the interaction between phosphatidylcholine bilayers in water. The potential of mean force (PMF) between PC-headgroup plates shows that the interaction is repulsive. We observed three distinct regimes in the PMF depending on the interplate distances: the small distance regime, intermediate distance regime, and large distance regime. We believe that the repulsive interaction in the intermediate interplate distance regime is associated with the hydration force due to the removal of water molecules adjacent to the headgroups.
Eun
Changsun
C
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Berkowitz
Max L
ML