Kieran Agg and James Hallett, working in Susan Perkin’s research group, have demonstrated the importance of dissolved molecules in determining the interaction between particles in natural and physiological aqueous solutions.
From protein interactions to mineral formation, many natural processes occur in aqueous solution. Until now, many assumed that water with dissolved salt was sufficient to describe the nature of this ‘aqueous background’. In their study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team show that other small molecules can play a crucial role in directing and tuning interactions at the nanoscale.
Focusing on mixtures of zwitterions (charged molecules containing two functional groups, such as amino acids) and salts in water, it is shown that particles can experience a wide range of interaction potentials depending on the precise local solution conditions. Implications of the work range from design of in vitro biomolecular studies to improved computer simulation.
