First principles molecular dynamics (FPMD) simulations of relatively dilute aqueous solutions of N-methylformamide (NMF), N, N-dimethylacetamide (DMA), N-methylacetamide (NMA) were carried out to elucidate the effects of variation of hydrophobicity of amide molecules on structure, dynamics and spectral properties of solvating water molecules. A quantitative analysis of dangling OH groups of water molecules, one of the consequences of hydrophobicity, around the amide molecules was performed to explore the structure of surrounding water molecules. We observe that DMA has the most hydrophobic character among the three amide molecules; the lifetime of dangling OH mode of water molecules and the number of such modes are found to be more inside the solvation shell of DMA as compared to NMA and NMF molecules. Overall this lifetime is more inside the solvation shell of amides compared to the bulk water molecules for all aqueous solutions of amides. Rotational dynamics calculation suggests significant retardation of OH bonds of water near the amide oxygen atom (O) due to the Ow[sbnd]Hw⋯O strong hydrogen bonds. A moderate slowdown of reorientational dynamics is also observed for OH modes that are close to the hydrophobic surface of DMA in its aqueous solution. Vibrational density of states (VDOS) and frequency distribution calculations point out the higher average stretching frequency (~3600–3850 cm−1) of free OH groups. Hydrogen bond lifetime calculations conceive that DMA, having three methyl groups, makes stronger hydrogen bonds through the C[dbnd]O moiety. Vibrational spectral diffusion of bulk water and solvation shell water molecules were also calculated in combination with wavelet transform and frequency-frequency autocorrelation functions. The C[dbnd]O group affected OH stretching frequency bands for aqueous solutions of NMF and NMA molecules are more pronounced than that of DMA. However, N[sbnd]H affected OH frequency bands are less pronounced for NMA and DMA due to the presence of more number of hydrophobic methyl groups. Going from NMF to DMA, the OH frequency bands inside the amide solvation shells shift towards the higher value due to the enhancement of hydrophobicity. The vibrational spectral diffusion of OH modes around C[dbnd]O and N[sbnd]H (N for DMA) groups, as well as for bulk water molecules, is also investigated. Three time scales were found for these calculations for all the cases. The fast time scales in the range ~50–100 fs are due to the amide-water intact hydrogen bonding, and two slower time scales in the range ~0.6–3.90 ps and ~10–20 ps were found. The time scales in the range of ~0.6 to 3.90 ps can be attributed to carbonyl-water and N-H-water hydrogen bonding, and the very long time scales are due to the escape dynamics water molecules from the solvation shell of C[dbnd]O and N[sbnd]H (N for DMA) groups. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.