Diffusive dynamics of water in the presence of homologous disaccharides: Acomparative study by quasi elastic neutron scattering. IV.

The present paper reports on the study of the disaccharides' dynamics in aq ueous solutions and discusses the role of their interaction with water, whi ch seems to be responsible for the protective action on biological membrane s and tissues. In particular, using QENS (IRIS at ISIS, RAL, U.K.) we compa red the quasielastic spectra from three homologous disaccharides (trehalose , maltose, and sucrose) with a hydration of 20 water molecules per each dis accharide molecule. The isotopic substitution method allowed us to study al so the dynamics of water in the presence of the disaccharides. Our results show that trehalose is the most effective in slowing down the water dynamic s, inducing a more extensive hydration layer.