The interaction between two associating hydrophobic particles has traditionally been explained in terms of the release of entropically frustrated hydration shell water molecules. However, this picture cannot account for the kinetics of hydrophobic association and is therefore not capable of providing a microscopic description of the hydrophobic interaction (HI). Here, Monte Carlo simulations of...

The principles obtained from studies on molecular chaperones have provided explanations for the assisted protein folding in vivo. However, the majority of proteins can fold without the assistance of the known molecular chaperones, and little attention has been paid to the potential chaperoning roles of other macromolecules. During protein biogenesis and folding, newly synthesized polypeptide ch...

In the present work, we have explored the use of the triphenylmethyl group, a commonly used protecting group for primary alcohols as a gelling structural component in the design of molecular gelators. We synthesized a small library of triphenylmethyl derivatives of simple primary alcohols and studied their gelation properties in different solvents. Gelation efficiency for some of the derivative...

The properties of starch have been extensively studied as starch is readily available in large quantities, biodegradable, inexpensive, and non toxic. In particular, starch has been hydrophobically modified to widen its application range. For examples, the modification of starch with fatty acid2 and butylene glycidyl ether3 has been implemented to investigate its potential use in drug delivery. ...

Hydrophobicity, the spontaneous segregation of oil and water, can be modified by surfactants. The way this modification occurs is studied at the oil-water interface for a range of alkanes and two ionic surfactants. A liquid interfacial monolayer, consisting of a mixture of alkane molecules and surfactant tails, is found. Upon cooling, it freezes at T(s), well above the alkane's bulk freezing te...

A multistep surface modification procedure for the creation of DNA arrays on chemically modified gold surfaces that can be used in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging studies of protein-DNA interactions is demonstrated. The multistep procedure is required to create an array of spots that are surrounded first by a hydrophobic background which allows for the pinning of aqueous DNA solutions o...