Speaker
Description
Monosaccharides are the basic building blocks of carbohydrates, which are considered as one of the most essential biomolecules with playing principal roles in several biological processes such as molecular recognition, and structural stabilization and modification of proteins and nucleic acids that can act as cryoprotective molecules for living cells. [1]
Although monosaccharides are generally considered hydrophilic compounds, they have substantial hydrophobicity that varies with their structure. The competition of the intramolecular H-bonds with the intermolecular ones, which are formed between the monosaccharide and the water molecules, along with the hydrophobic interactions, determine the solvation shell of these molecules.
In this presentation, we consider various isomers of simple sugars (D-glucose, D-galactose, D-mannose and D-fructose) [2] whose molecular structures are very similar, yet their basic properties for example solubilities in water can be rather different. We calculated different properties that characterize the monosaccharide’s molecules’ hydration and reveal their differences. These include, among others the average number of acceptor and donor H-bonds, the average length of acceptor and donor H-bonds, and the properties of three and four-coordinated water molecules around carbohydrate molecules. Using classical and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations provides a very strong base for our results.
The main novelty is the quantitative characterization of the hydration shell (hydrophilic and hydrophobic) of the monosaccharides by calculating the number of water molecules below and above the plane of the studied monosaccharide molecules. The largest difference was found between the two isomers of the same monosaccharide, which is the D-glucose. [3]
References
[1] R. A. Dwek, Chem. Rev. 96, 683, 1996
[2] T. L. Mega, S. Cortes, R. L. Van Etten, J. Org. Chem. 55, 522, 1990
[3] I. Bakó, L. Pusztai, Sz. Pothoczki, https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.03653
