Structure of Water in the First Hydration Shell of the Highly Hydrophobic Anthracene

Abstract

Hydrophobic hydration underpins processes central to chemistry, biology, and technology, from protein folding and molecular self-assembly to catalysis and nanomaterial dispersion. However, direct structural information on water surrounding large hydrophobic molecules remains scarce due to their very low solubility. Here, we overcome this limitation by using low-temperature vapor codeposition to form amorphous mixtures of water and anthracene, a hydrophobic “mini-graphene”. We then resolve the structure of anthracene’s first hydration shell by neutron diffraction. The linear polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon induces distinct structural motifs in its hydration shell. Water molecules above and below the outer aromatic rings exhibit one broken water–water hydrogen bond enabling weak O–H···π interactions with the solute, while a pronounced “dewetting” effect emerges at the central ring. These findings provide experimentally constrained structural insights into the hydration around a large hydrophobe under conditions where conventional liquid-state experiments are not feasible.