Figure 4.

The direction of hydrogen bond free energy change upon ligand binding is correlated with hydrogen bond strength. The horizontal axis is the free energy of the hydrogen bond in the unbound state of staphylococcal nuclease H124L (ΔΔGHB). The vertical axis is the change in hydrogen bond strength upon ligand binding, ΔΔGHB(Bound)–ΔΔGHB(Unbound). Strong hydrogen bonds tend to become weaker and vice versa.