Supramolecular Nanostructures in Highly Dilute Solutions
Required for Biological Activity

Stable structures containing billions of water molecules in highly dilute solutions of chemical compounds are formed only in the presence of ambient electromagnetic fields; they exhibit physical properties distinct from bulk water and are essential for biological activity Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

Decoding homeopathy

Mention highly dilute solutions and homeopathy comes to mind along with the ferocious attacks and dismissal by the conventional scientific and medical community indoctrinated on a mechanistic biology that’s fast becoming obsolete. Within the past decade, new findings in the quantum physics and chemistry of water have put water at the centre stage of cell and organismic biology (see [1] Living Rainbow H₂O, ISIS publication) based on a new framework of quantum electrodynamics field theory of condensed matter [2]).  

Simultaneously, as Academician Alexander Konovalov at Arbuzov Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Science Kazan Science Center, Tatarstan, points out [3], thousands of papers have documented that solutions of biologically active substances in water can give biological effects not only at ordinary concentrations of 10^-3 to 10^-7 M, but also at very high (homeopathic) dilutions, separated by concentrations in between that have little or no effect. This U-shaped curve is so prevalent that it has been given a name: ‘hormesis’.

Over the past 6 years, Konovalov and his team have studied about 100 compounds at 10^-2 to 10^-20 M, diluted sequentially with rigorous shaking (succussion) starting from the initial solution (reviewed in [3, 4]). The list includes antioxidants, plant growth regulators, neuro-mediators, vitamins, tranquilizers, hormones, various drugs as well as substances of unknown biological effects. The compounds range from simple molecules like glycine to complex macrocyclic compounds like porphyrins or calyxarenes.

They monitored electric conductivity, surface tension, pH and in some cases dielectric permeability and optical activity at different dilutions. To measure the size of nanostructures formed in solution, the team used dynamic light scattering (DLS). DLS is a physical technique generally used for determining the size distribution of small particles in suspension or polymers in solution [5]. Water chemists have discovered that it also enables the detection of nano-objects in highly dilute solutions that have very few solute molecules left, and this has greatly facilitated research on such solutions.  At the same time, the technique determines the surface electrical (zeta) potential of the nano-objects.

Recently, the experiments were carried out both on the lab bench and within a three-layer permalloy (iron/nickel) container shielding out external electromagnetic fields. For example, the geomagnetic field was brought down to a thousandth of its normal level.

The majority of solutions behave non-classically

A quarter of solutions behaved ‘classically’, i.e., highly dilute solutions become like bulk distilled deionized water in surface tension and electrical conductivity; but the majority, 75 % behaved non-classically, as for example, the antioxidants phenozane and a-tocopherol (vitamin E).

Phenozane on being diluted in aqueous solution exhibits a fall in surface tension by 10-20 mN/m at around 10^-6 to 10^-7M, while electrical conductivity rises to 40 mS/cm (S, Siemen is 1 Ampere/Volt) and keeps changing with subsequent dilution. These changes are accompanied by biological effects that vary significantly with dilution (Figure 1).

Figure 1   Solutions of potassium phenozane (top), and variation in the surface tension  and conductivity (middle) and protein kinase C activation of cultured rat smooth muscle cells (bottom) as a function of dilution

At high dilutions of non-classical compounds, nanosize structures appear. Their dimensions change in subsequent dilutions – not in linear or monotonic fashion, but rather in jumps, and the formation of these nanostructures appear to be necessary for biological effects.

Samples kept in hypo-electromagnetic environments notably fail to form nanostructures below a certain dilution, the physical changes such as conductivity are absent (see Figure 2), and the shielded solutions were also without biological effects at these high dilutions.

Figure 2   Formation of nanostructures on the lab bench (black line) and in permalloy-shielded environment (red line); left, dimensions of nanoassociates, right, conductivity

There appears to be a ‘boundary concentration, different for different compounds in the 10^-5 to 10^-8 range, beyond which nanostructures do not form inside permalloy containers, and where further biological effects normally show up.

A team at Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics carried out experiments to check on the hypothesis that biological effects are absent in the absence of nanostructures in highly diluted solutions. They looked at changes in the microviscosity of membranes exposed to potassium phenozane solutions.  They found effects at 10^-6 M corresponding to the usual maximum plus further peaks at 10^-12 and 10^-15 M for the dilute solutions kept on the lab bench; but the two additional peaks disappeared in solutions kept within the permalloy container (Figure 3).

Figure 3   Formation of nanoassociates (top) and membrane microviscosity (bottom) in normal (black) and shielded (red) environments

As a further proof of concept, M. Sc. student Dmitry Konovalov experimented with solutions of cytyltrimethylammonium bromide. Under ordinary conditions on the lab bench, 240 nm nanostructures appear at 10^-9M; this does not take place within the permalloy container. However, if a 7 Hz field is generated within the container, the nanostructures form to about the same size as on the lab bench [3].

Atomic force microscope images corroborate previous findings

The nanostructures are not due to nanobubbles or gases present in solution, as many believe. Using atomic force microscope in the semi-contact mode, Konovalov and his team successfully imaged the nanostructures (see Figure 4). At the lowest dilution (10^-6M), spherical or semispherical particles are seen (most probably containing solutes) [4]. At higher dilutions, however, nanostructures are detected in the semi-contact mode, which have the characteristics of soft matter; and quite similar to those first identified and imaged on AFM by Shui-Yin Lo and his team at Quantum Health Research Institute Pasadena, California, in the United States  (see [6] Large Structured Water Clusters Caught on Camera, SiS 61).

Figure 4   AFM images of nanostructures from solutions of amphiphilic calix[4]reorcinarene with tris(hydroxymethyl) methylamide at concentrations of 10^-6 (a, b), 10^-7 (c, d), 10^-8 (e) and 10^-10 (f)

In both cases, subunits ~100 nm in diameter are evident in the supramolecular structures (see Figure 4 c, d). I have identified the subunits as coherent domains (CDs) formed in liquid water under ambient conditions from interaction with electromagnetic field as predicted by Emilio Del Giudice and his colleagues [2].  I have further proposed a general structure based on the near separation of charges in the CDs that turn them into effective dipoles, enabling them to aggregate into larger clusters when coherence in rotational levels become established among CDs through interaction with external electromagnetic fields. This is corroborated by Konovalov’s report that the presence of a 7 Hz electromagnetic field inside the permally container restores the formation of the supramolecular nanostructures.

What next?

The new results that nanostructures formation at high dilutions require electromagnetic fields and that these nanostructures are essential for biological effects are a major advance.   They confirm and extend previous findings. The next step is for other laboratories to repeat the investigations, to further characterize the nanostructures associated with each solute, and to identify specific electromagnetic signals from the nanostructures that are also predicted from quantum electrodynamics field theory [2].

Article first published 06/10/14

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References

1. Ho MW. Living Rainbow H2O, World Scientific and Imperial Coerllege Press, 2012.
2. Ho MW. Illuminating water and life. Entropy 2014, 16, 4874-91.
3. Konovalov A. Nanoassociates: terra incognita. Science in Russia 2014, 1, 4-10.
4. Konovalov AI and Rychkina IS. Formation of nanoassociates as a key to understanding of physicochemical and biological properties of highly dilute aqueous solutions. Russian Chemical Bulletin, International Edition 2014, 63, 1-14.
5. Dynamic light scattering. Wikipedia, 13 August 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_light_scattering
6. Ho MW. Large structured water clusters caught on camera. Science in Society 61, 30-33, 2014.