Dynamics of supercooled confined water measured by deep inelastic neutron scattering

In this paper, we present the results of deep inelastic neutron scattering （DINS） measurements on supercooled water confined within the pores （average pore diameter - 20A） of a disordered hydrophilic silica matrix obtained through hydrolysis and polycondensation of the alkoxide precursor Tetra-Methyl- Ortho-Silicate via the sol-gel method. Experiments were performed at two temperatures （250 K and 210 K, i.e., before and after the putative liquid-liquid transition of supercooled confined water） on a ＂wet＂ sample with hydration h -40% w/w, which is high enough to have water-filled pores but low enough to avoid water crystallization. A virtually ＂dry＂ sample at h - 7% was also investigated to measure the contribution of the silica matrix to the neutron scattering signal. As ：is well known, DINS measurements allow the determination of the mean kinetic energy and the momentum distribution of the hydrogen atoms in the system and therefore, allow researchers to probe the local structure of supercooled confined water. The main result obtained is that at 210 K the hydrogen mean kinetic energy is equal or even slightly higher than at 250 K. This is at odds with the predictions of a semi-empirical harmonic model recently proposed to describe the temperature dependence of the kinetic energy of hydrogen in water. This is a new and very interesting result, which suggests that at 210 K, the water hydrogens experience a stiffer intermolecular potential than at 250 K. This is in agreement with the liquid-liquid transition hypothesis.

Kinetic energy and radial momentum distribution of hydrogen and oxygen atoms of water confined in silica hydrogel in the temperature interval 170-325 K

Water is an ubiquitous liquid and it is necessary for life;studies on water are therefore of obvious scientific and technological relevance.In view of its peculiar physical properties(the so-called water anomalies,particularly relevant at low temperatures[1]),studies on water structure and dynamics in ample temperature intervals,covering also the supercooling region,have attracted much interest in recent years.In particular,studies focused on the supercooled phase are important in order to test theories and hypotheses[2,3],including the liquid-liquid phase transition hypothesis[4-6]and the related fragile-to-strong crossover observed in water confined in silica matrices and in the hydration water of proteins[7,8].In this context,water confined within nanometer-sized porous hydrophilic/hydrophobic matrices has been investigated both to extend the supercooling temperature range accessible to experiment and to mimic the crowding/confined conditions experienced by water molecules in biological systems relevant to biophysics,bio-preservation,and pharmaceutics.In view of the above arguments,studies on the short-time dynamics of hydrogen and oxygen atoms of supercooled water(bulk or confined)are of great relevance.

Dynamical properties of water in living cells

With the aim of studying the effect of water dynamics on the properties of biological systems, in this paper, we present a quasi-elastic neutron scattering study on three different types of living cells, differing both in their morphological and tumor properties. The measured scattering signal, which essentially originates from hydrogen atoms present in the investigated systems, has been analyzed using a global fitting strategy using an optimized theoretical model that considers various classes of hydrogen atoms and allows disentangling diffusive and rotational motions. The approach has been carefully validated by checking the reliability of the calculation of parameters and their 99% confidence intervals. We demonstrate that quasi-elastic neutron scattering is a suitable experimental technique to characterize the dynamics of intracellular water in the angstrom/picosecond space/time scale and to investigate the effect of water dynamics on cellular biodiversity.