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By jhalper
on May 30, 2011.
Two completely unrelated papers have got us thinking about chemical bonds. When we refer to chemical bonds, we generally mean covalent bonds: Atoms become wedded, sharing electrons, and breaking them apart takes energy. By comparison, other types of bonds are weak attractions - mere flirtations, or mild sparks between hydrogen and oxygen in passing water molecules.
So why would a researcher in organic chemistry - a field based on carbon, the king of covalent bonds - be investigating the properties of non-covalent, hydrophobic bonds? The answer, of course, is that they can be used to create materials with unique properties. Let s back up a minute. Hydrophobic bonds occur between hydrophobic - or water-hating - molecules in the presence of water. Water, it seems, is equally averse to contact with hydrophobic molecules, and sticking closely to their own kind turns out to be the most amicable arrangement for both. And, whil ....

Zvulun Elazar , Boris Rybtchinski , Institute Biological Chemistry Department , Biological Chemistry Department , உயிரியல் வேதியியல் துறை ,