The dynamics of hydrogen bonds among water molecules themselves and with the polar head groups (PHG) at a micellar surface have been investigated by long molecular dynamics simulations. The lifetime of the hydrogen bond between a PHG and a water molecule is found to be much longer than that between any two water molecules, and is likely to be a general feature of hydrophilic surfaces of organized assemblies. Analyses of individual water trajectories suggest that water molecules can remain bound to the micellar surface for more than a hundred picosecond. The activation energy for such a transition from the bound to a free state for the water molecules is estimated to be about 3.5kcal/mole.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0208270,
title = {Hydrogen Bond Dynamics Near A Micellar Surface: Origin of the Universal Slow Relaxation at Complex Aqueous Interfaces},
author = {Sundaram Balasubramanian and Subrata Pal and Biman Bagchi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0208270},
year = {2009}
}