title: Amplification of hofmeister effect by alcohols.
abstract: We have demonstrated that Hofmeister effect can be amplified by adding alcohols to aqueous solutions. The lower critical solution temperature behavior of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) has been employed as the model system to study the amplification of Hofmeister effect. The alcohols can more effectively amplify the Hofmeister effect following the series methanol < ethanol < 1-propanol < 2-propanol for the monohydric alcohols and following the series d-sorbitol ≈ xylitol ≈ meso-erythritol < glycerol < ethylene glycol < methanol for the polyhydric alcohols. Our study reveals that the relative extent of amplification of Hofmeister effect is determined by the stability of the water/alcohol complex, which is strongly dependent on the chemical structure of alcohols. The more stable solvent complex formed via stronger hydrogen bonds can more effectively differentiate the anions through the anion-solvent complex interactions, resulting in a stronger amplification of Hofmeister effect. This study provides an alternative method to tune the relative strength of Hofmeister effect besides salt concentration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Physics, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei, P. R. China 230026.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Guangming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry; D000438:Alcohols / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D000438:Alcohols; D012997:Solvents; D014867:Water; C052970:poly-N-isopropylacrylamide