TEMPERATURE-INDUCED DISORDERING OF THE HYDROPHOBIC HYDRATION SHELL OFKR AND XE

X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy has been used to investig ate the temperature dependence of the hydrophobic hydration shell of t he noble gases krypton and xenon in the range 277 to 368K. These data provide clear experimental evidence for a systematic thermal perturbat ion and associated entropic gain that have come to form a critical com ponent of conventional models of non-polar moiety hydration. Further, these measurements of this structure provide insight into the subtleti es of this complex non-polar hydration mechanism. (C) 1998 Published b y Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.