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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1995 Feb 14;92(4):1208–1212. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.4.1208

Hydrogen bonding in water using synthetic receptors.

Y Kato 1, M M Conn 1, J Rebek Jr 1
PMCID: PMC42668  PMID: 7862662

Abstract

Four water-soluble adenine receptors were synthesized to study the influence of hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding on molecular recognition in aqueous solution. Association constants were measured in aqueous solution at five temperatures from 3-27 degrees C (pH 6, 51 mM ionic strength). For the mono(imide) receptors, delta H was -5.8 kcal/mol (carbazole) and -9.2 kcal/mol (naphthalene). The entropy of association for these was -13 cal.mol-1.K-1 (carbazole) and -26 cal.mol-1.K-1 (naphthalene). The carbazole bis(imide) receptor showed a binding enthalpy of -7.4 kcal/mol and entropy of -18 cal.mol-1.K-1. From this the free energy at 298 K of a single hydrogen bond is estimated to be only 0.2 kcal/mol. The enthalpy of a single hydrogen bond in this solvent-exposed system is estimated to be, at most, 0.8 kcal/mol, indicating that enthalpy just compensates for the unfavorable entropy in this system. These values reflect stronger hydrophobic interactions with the more polarizable naphthalene, as well as enthalpy-entropy compensation effects.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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