chaotropism

cha·o·tro·pism

(kā'ō-trōp'izm), Property of some substances, usually ions (for example, SCN-, ClO4-, guanidinium), to disrupt the structure of water and thereby promote the solubility of nonpolar substances in polar solvents (for example, water), the unfolding of proteins, the elution from or movement through a chromatographic medium of an otherwise tightly bound substance, etc. [G. chaos, disorder, confusion, + tropē, a turning]