Diffusion coefficient and solvation free energy of sucrose in water: a molecular dynamics study

Abstract

In this work, we have carried out Molecular Dynamics Simulation technique to study the diffusion coefficients, radial distribution functions and solvation free energy of sucrose (C12H22O11) at different temperatures ranging from 298.15 K to 318.15 K. We have taken 2 molecules of sucrose in 1343 molecules of extended simple point charge (SPC/E) water model. The self-diffusion coefficients are obtained by applying linear best fit to the mean squaredisplacement (MSD) plot and binary diffusion coefficients are obtained by using Darken’s relation. Arrhenius equation has been used to show a linear relationship between natural logarithm of binary diffusion coefficient and reciprocal of temperature. The structural analysis of the solution has been carried out with the help of radial distribution functions (RDFs) of its constituents. The solvation free energy of sucrose is studied at 300 K by using free energy perturbation method like Bennett Acceptance Ratio (BAR). The results of binary diffusion coefficients obtained from this simulation work agree very well with the previously reported experimental data.