The Structure and Function of Water

"Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps"

(British Library, 2013) Chet Van Duzer

Water on the Planet

Large sphere all the water

on and in earth
Middle sphere all the fresh
water on and in earth

Smallest sphere freshwater

available to humans
(diameter= 56 km)

H2O is an unusual chemical

and is critical to the chemistry
of life

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html

What are the properties of water that make it critical for life?
being a covalent compound, it is a very stable molecule
has remarkable solvent properties
has unusual thermal properties
plays a direct role in the stability and behavior of other molecules in the cell
plays a direct role in chemical reaction mechanisms

www.chemistrypictures.org

Covalent Bonding in H2O

!

note that both H and O atoms adopt noble gas configuration (He and Ne)
two pairs of e- on O atom do not participate in covalent bond formation
these are called non-bonding pairs or lone pairs

cnx.org

Note: O (atomic number 8) also has 2 inner shell electrons (not shown)

The geometry of the H2O molecule

like methane, water forms a tetrahedral shape in terms of electron density
because of repulsion from lone pair electrons in H2O, it is a distorted tetrahedron

All of these molecules adopt a tetrahedral geometry with respect

to electron density
CH4

NH3

H2O

HF

methane

more properly, the water molecule is said

to have a BENT geometry since VESPR
theory accounts only for atomic positions.

water

Water has a dipole moment - it is therefore a POLAR molecule

remember what happens when H atom binds to a strongly
electronegative atom like Oxygen (dipole is formed)
Polar molecules are molecules with an unequal distribution of charge where one end
of molecule is more negative and other end is more positive.
H2O

NH3

CO2

it is the polar nature of water that allows it to interact with other charged or
polar molecules and solvate (dissolve) them (more on this in a bit).

Water molecules interact with each other through

Hydrogen Bonding
each H2O molecule can interact with up to 4 other H2O molecules
hydrogen bonding explains why water is a cohesive liquid at moderate temperatures

Go back to section on Hydrogen bonds

if you cant tell which is the donor and
acceptor in the above H bond

Hydrogen Bonding in
Liquid Water
in liquid water, less than the maximum of
4 hydrogen bonds occur between molecules

hydrogen bond formation in liquid water is

a dynamic process, each H bond has half-life
of about 10 picoseconds
despite this dynamic switching of H bonding
partners amongst H2O molecules, most of the
molecules are H bonded by 1 or 2 bonds to
other H2O molecules at any given time.
this is why water is liquid between 0 and 100oC
and is a cohesive liquid.

The surface of water - one molecule thick - is held in tension by the innumerable
Hydrogen bonds below holding the surface water molecules in place.
Their attraction to each other is greater than their attraction to molecules on insect
leg.

water striders mating

Hydrogen Bonding and its effect on surface tension is also why water will bead
while something with less of an ability to form hydrogen bonds will not.
Water

100% Ethanol

Water evaporates because by chance H2O

molecules at the surface fleetingly lose all H bonds
to other water molecules, and float off.
If the air around the water was 100% saturated
with water vapour, this would not happen (no net
change).
Liquid water changes to gaseous water at 100oC.
the high thermal energy actively breaks the H bonds.
Sweating is a vital thermoregulatory mechanism used
by mammals.
The thermal energy in your skin breaks the hydrogen
bonds between water molecules in your sweat.
The heat energy is thereby dissipated and the water
molecules fly off into the air (evaporate).

Solid Water forms a cross-linked lattice

hydrogen bonding in solid water (ice) is at a maximum

molecules are orientated so that H bonds form in a straight line (H atom is in

straight line between O atoms) giving maximum strength to each H bond.
The result is that ice forms an open lattice-like
arrangement.
Water molecules pack only about 57% of the
density that other molecules would pack.
Therefore, solid H2O is less dense than liquid H2O.
The transition from solid to liquid results from
the breaking of 15-25% of the H bonds in ice.

Thermal Properties of Water

an odd property of water is that it is liquid at room temperature.

compared with related molecules, H2O should have a melting pt. of -100oC
and boiling pt. of -91oC (see table below).
IV V VI VII
Hydrides of Group VI elements

water also has a high heat capacity. That is, the amount of
thermal energy required to raise its temperature. The high
heat capacity of water modulates climatic temperatures.

All of these
properties due
to H bonding

Solvent Properties of Water

Solid NaCl is held together by ionic
interactions between Na+ and Cl- ions
When placed in water, the polar
H2O molecules strip away the ions
by electrostatically interacting with
the charged ions.
Each ion is surrounded by a HYDRATION
shell of water molecules which shields
the ions from interacting with one another.

The ability of water to form a hydration shell via dipole interactions is a measure of
its DIELECTRIC CONSTANT or RELATIVE PERMITTIVITY.

Water has a very high dielectric constant

and thus solvates ionic substances
(like salts) very well.
25oC

Dielectric Constants of some solvents at

Solvent
Dielectric Constant (D)
Formamide
109
Water
80
Methanol
33
Ethanol
24
Acetone
21
Acetic acid
6
Chloroform
5
Vegetable Oil
3
Benzene
2
Hexane
2

The lower the dielectric constant of a

liquid, the less able it is to hydrate ions.
Try this at home:
Mix tablespoon of salt into glass of water
and glass of vegetable oil.
Why doesnt the salt dissolve in oil.

Because oil is APOLAR (it has no dipole)

therefore cannot interact with the salt
ions and form hydration shell around each.

The interaction between the Na+ and Clions is stronger than interaction of oil
molecules with ions.

Water dissolves ionic solids like salt because of the polar nature of H2O molecule and
the charge on the ion.

Remember, polar means it has a dipole, or separation of charge (one end is positive,
the other end is negative).
The positive Hydrogen ends of water molecule interact with negative charge of Cl ions.
The negative Oxygen end of molecules interacts with positive charge of Na ions.

Water can also dissolve other molecules that are not ionic so long as they are also polar
(e.g. like sugar molecules)
by forming Hydrogen bonds with the molecules.

Hydrophobic molecules (such as oils) cannot dissolve in water because oils are
neither ionic or polar and water molecules therefore cannot electrostatically
interact with them.

Instead, water molecules interact with themselves but the presence of apolar
molecules alter the pattern of H bond interaction.
A cage-like arrangement of H2O molecules (called a clathrate) forms around the
hydrophobic molecules.
A clathrate represents a highly ordered arrangement. This is thermodynamically
unfavorable and the hydrophobic molecules coalesce spontaneously
which reduces surface area exposure to the water.

This is therefore an entropy driven process.

Adding polar groups to molecules increases solubility in water

alkane
methane 1C
ethane
2C
propane 3C
butane
4C
pentane 5C
hexane
6C
heptane 7C
octane
8C
nonane 9C

Sol (g/l)
<0.06
<0.06
<0.06
<0.06
0.04
0.01
0
0
0

alcohol
methanol
ethanol
propanol
butanol
pentanol
hexanol
heptanol
octanol
nonanol

Sol (g/l)
infinite
infinite
infinite
90
27
6
1.8
0.5
0

methane

methanol

OH
hexane

hexanol

Key concepts: longer the hydrocarbon the more insoluble.

the more polar groups per Carbon, the more soluble

glucose
(910 g/l)

Summary of the Unusual properties of water

Unusually high

-melting point
-boiling point
-heat capacity
-surface tension
-dielectric constant

heat energy required to

raise 1 g 1oC
Water 4.184 Joules
Copper 0.385 Joules

its solid form is less dense than its liquid form

extensive solvent properties

drive coalescence of hydrophobic molecules

All of these unusual properties are due substantially to waters ability

to form intermolecular Hydrogen Bonds.

Why all this talk about water?

water is the medium within which life exists
it is said life is Carbon-basedone might also claim life is Water-based
it is the preceding qualities of water that determine the structure and
function of all other important cell constituents (DNA, proteins, carbohydrates,
lipids, ions, etc.)
in addition, we will find out that water has additional important properties
and that it also directly participates as a reactant in many chemical reactions