Tuesday, October 22, 2013

How much do van der Waals dispersion forces contribute to molecular recognition in solution?

by Lixu Yang, Catherine Adam, Gary S. Nichol & Scott L. Cockroft*


Attractive van der Waals dispersion forces have been implicated in mechanisms as diverse as gecko adhesion and anaesthesia. Now, it has been found using synthetic molecular balances that dispersion forces between alkyl chains are an order of magnitude weaker in solution than they are in the gas phase.

Nature Chemistry
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1779

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