The Interaction of Water with Glycine: A Combined Inelastic Neutron Scattering and Raman Spectra Studies

The vibrational dynamics of water around glycine was investigated by using Raman spectroscopy and inelastic neutron scattering. Experiments of deuterated glycine versus deuterium were performed as comparison. The study shows that for glycine, the exchange of proton–deuteron on the active NH+3 side was easy, whereas there was hardly exchange on the CH2 side. Comparing different proportion of glycine vs. water molecules we obtained that the presence of water hardly changes the main features of glycine illustrating its hydrophobic character. The intralayer hydrogen bonds of glycine crystal are difficult to be replaced due to its stronger bond than water.