Propensity of soft ions for the air/water interface

Major recent advances: Results of molecular dynamics simulations with polarizable force fields, supported by surface sensitive experiments, indicate that the propensity of atomic and hydrophilic molecular ions for the air/water interface exhibits strong ion specificity. While hard, non-polarizable ions are repelled from the interface, soft, polarizable ions exhibit surface affinity. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.