Kosmotropic
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Solutes may be defined as kosmotropic or chaotropic based on their "water structuring" or "water disrupting" nature. These properties, however, may depend on, for instance, the concentration or the presence of a macromolecule, that is the kosmotropicity or chaotropicity depends on the interactions with all particles in the system.
Kosmotropes tend to structure water, e.g. sulfate, phosphate, magnesium(2+), lithium(1+), glucose, etc. Chaotropes tend to disrupt water, e.g. bromide, iodide, potassium(1+), caesium(1+) etc. A scale can be established if one refers to the Hofmeister series or looks up the free energy of hydration (ΔGhydr) of the salts. The more negative ΔGhydr, the more kosmotropic the salt.
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