On the Thermal Expansion of Water and the Phase Behavior of Macromolecules in Aqueous Solution

Filip Meersman; Erik Nies; Karel Heremans

doi:10.1515/znb-2008-0629

Open Access Published by De Gruyter June 2, 2014

On the Thermal Expansion of Water and the Phase Behavior of Macromolecules in Aqueous Solution

Filip Meersman , Erik Nies and Karel Heremans

From the journal Zeitschrift für Naturforschung B

https://doi.org/10.1515/znb-2008-0629

Water is crucial for the existence of life as we know it, and many have wondered what makes water so special. Here we point out the analogies between the pressure-temperature dependence of the isobaric thermal expansion of water (α_p) and the pressure-temperature phase behavior of macromolecules in aqueous solutions. We suggest that α_p could be the key to understand why water is to be the so-called ‘matrix of life’.

Keywords: Water; Thermal Expansion; Polymers; Protein Stability; Phase Diagram

Received: 2008-3-5

Published Online: 2014-6-2

Published in Print: 2008-6-1

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

On the Thermal Expansion of Water and the Phase Behavior of Macromolecules in Aqueous Solution

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