Strength in Numbers
Robert F. Service, Phil Szuromi, Julia Uppenbrink · Science · 2002
Chemical reactions are usually thought of in terms of the breaking and forming of strong covalent bonds. However, weaker interactions, such as hydrogen bonds, salt bridges, and solvation forces, can add up and play just as strong a role, determining, for example, the properties of liquids, the solubility of solids, and the organization of molecules in membranes. Nature has exploited these interactions in biorecognition and biomolecular organization for billions of years. Learning from biology, chemists are now developing highly complex chemical systems from components that interact via noncovalent intermolecular forces. Such forces were exploited long before the terms "supramolecular chemistry" and "self-assembly" were introduced. The difference is that in supramolecular chemistry, molecules are designed and synthesized to interact specifically with other molecules or to form larger aggregates.