WATER PERTURBATION CLOSE TO NONPOLAR GROUPS IN AQUEOUS-SOLUTIONS

The perturbation of water structure and/or dynamics close to biomolecu les has often been considered to give rise to thermodynamic contributi ons to free energies of stabilisation, association, and substrate bind ing. Of particular interest is water perturbation close to non-polar g roups, which has been argued for many years to give rise to the so-cal led hydrophobic interaction. Recent developments in neutron scattering instrumentation and techniques now allow us to probe directly possibl e water perturbations close to non-polar groups. The results presented suggest the conventional wisdom of the hydrophobic effect is signific antly wanting.