Magnetic Resonance Microscopy of Water Dynamics at Hydrophilic Surfaces
EMSL Project ID
5114
Abstract
Recent work at the University of Washington shows that suspended solutes are excluded from water within ~100 microns of hydrophilic surfaces. One possible hypothesis for this is that hydrophilic surfaces induce water ?structuring? since this phenomenon is known to exclude solutes. The main difficulty with this explanation is, however, that the implied number of structured water layers is far beyond expectations based on current theories. To examine whether longer-range water structuring is possible this proposal seeks to exploit EMSL?s combined confocal and magnetic resonance microscope for testing whether the dynamics of water near hydrophilic surfaces is significantly different from that in the bulk phase. In proposed work, confocal fluorescence microscopy will be exploited for determining the precise location of a hydrophilic gel surface and magnetic resonance microscopy will be utilized for mapping water dynamics in close proximity. If altered water dynamics is measured, this could strengthen the proposed hypothesis that long-range water structuring is possible near hydrophilic surfaces and this could have profound implications for molecular interactions in both natural and artificial systems.
Project Details
Project type
Capability Research
Start Date
2004-05-13
End Date
2006-04-19
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator