Formation and manipulation of confined water wires

Pressure-induced hydration (PIH) in the zeolite natrolite leads to well-ordered one-dimensional "water wires" and "water tubes". These structures provide urgently needed points of reference for molecular dynamics simulations and serve as models of transient and disordered biological nanowater. We show here that applying simultaneous pressure and temperature using a hydrothermal diamond anvil cell permits the intermolecular manipulation of water wires due to changes in the geometry of the host scaffolding and the enclosed hydrogen bonded water. During this process the ordered water wires formed under pressure change their direction depending on the temperature. This provides the opportunity to study the dynamics of confined water at the nanoscale by temperature and/or pressure-jump experiments. Our studies indicate that confined water responds differently to pressure and temperature than does bulk water.