Unveiling the mechanism of hydrotropy: evidence for water-mediated aggregation of hydrotropes around the solute

Abstract

A recent proposal attributes the origin of hydrotropy to the water-mediated aggregation of hydrotrope molecules around the solute. Experimental evidence for this phenomenon is reported for the first time in this work, using ¹H-NMR. A new computational technique to quantify apolarity is introduced and is used to show that apolarity of both solute and hydrotrope is the driving force of hydrotropy.