Dynamic hydration numbers for biologically important ions Original Research Article

The role of ionized groups in biological systems is determined by their affinity for water [Biophys. J. 72 (1997) 65–76]. The tightly bound water associated with biologically important ions increases their apparent size. We define the apparent dynamic hydration number of an ion here as the number of tightly bound water molecules that must be assigned to the ion to explain its apparent molecular weight on a Sephadex® G-10 size exclusion column, and report the first accurate determination of tightly bound water for 23 ions of biological significance, including H+ and HO−. We also calculate the radius of the equivalent hydrated sphere (rh) for each ion. We find that the ratio of the hydrated volumes of two ions approximates the ratio of the square of the charges of the same two ions. Since the ‘ionic strength’ of the solution also depends upon the square of the charges on the ions, our results suggest that ionic strength effects may largely arise from local effects related to the hydrated volume of the ion—that is, from space filling, osmotic, water activity, surface tension and hydration shell overlap effects rather than from long-range electric field effects.