Molecular dynamics of confined glucose solutions

Silica gels containing solutions of glucose in heavy water at different concentrations have been prepared by a sol-gel method. Dynamical studies with quasielastic neutron scattering, compared with previous results on bulk solutions, show that the dynamics of the glucose molecules are not appreciably...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of chemical physics Vol. 122; no. 16; p. 164504
Main Authors Lelong, Gérald, Price, David L, Douy, André, Kline, Steve, Brady, John W, Saboungi, Marie-Louise
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 22.04.2005
Subjects
Gels - chemistry
Glucose - chemistry
Molecular Conformation
Nanotechnology
Neutrons
Phase Transition
Scattering, Radiation
Silicon Dioxide - chemistry
Solutions - chemistry
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Summary:Silica gels containing solutions of glucose in heavy water at different concentrations have been prepared by a sol-gel method. Dynamical studies with quasielastic neutron scattering, compared with previous results on bulk solutions, show that the dynamics of the glucose molecules are not appreciably affected by the confinement, even though the gels behave macroscopically as solid materials. Small-angle neutron-scattering spectra on the same systems, fitted with a fractal model, yield a correlation length that decreases from 20 to 2.5 nm with increasing glucose concentration, suggesting a clustering of glucose molecules in concentrated solutions that is consistent with the dynamical measurements. These two sets of results imply that 20 nm is an upper limit for the scale at which the dynamics of glucose molecules in solution are affected by confinement.
ISSN:0021-9606
DOI:10.1063/1.1884989