A Comprehensive Review on Acoustic Properties of Amino Acids in Various Solvent Systems

Study of acoustic properties is one of the commonly chosen methods undertaken by researchers for analyzing molecular interactions and their effects on structural properties of solute and solvent. The present article is a compilation of results found by different researchers who worked on ultraacoustic behavior of amino acids in a wide range of solvents. They have studied the compressibility parameters, ion associations in pairs and triplets, molar free length, molar free volume, internal pressure, acoustic impedance, surface tension and hydration number for their respective experimental systems. They have analyzed their results in the light of the nature, strength and mechanism of interactions between ionic, hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments of amino acids and cosolutes with each other and with the solvent. They concluded that ion-solvent interactions are predominant in solutions and amino acids act as water structure reforming or deforming agents in the presence of cosolutes. The comparison of these results enables us to gather a deeper knowledge on effects of different cosolutes on hydration of amino acids and statbilization of proteins.