Intermolecular Forces

The study of intermolecular forces began over one hundred years ago in 1873 with the famous thesis of van der Waals. In recent decades, knowledge of this field has expanded due to intensive research into both its theoretical and the experimental aspects. This is particularly true for the type of very strong cohesive force stressed in 1920 by Latimer and Rodebush: the hydrogen bond, a phenomenon already outlined in 1912 by Moore and Winemill. Hydrogen bonds exert a profound influence on most of the physical and chemical properties of the materials in which they are formed. Not only do they govern viscosity and electrical conductivity, they also intervene in the chemical reaction path which determines the kinetics of chemical processes. The properties of chemical substances depend to a large extent on intermolecular forces. In spite of this fundamental fact, too little attention is given to these properties both in research and in university teaching. For instance, in the field of pharmaceutical research, about 13000 compounds need to be studied in order to find a single new product that can be successfully marketed. The recognition of the need to optimize industrial research efficiency has led to a growing interest in promoting the study of inter molecular forces. Rising salary costs in industry have encou raged an interest in theoretical ideas which will lead to tailor made materials.

Van der Waals' famous thesis on the study of intermolecular forces is now more than hundred years old. Important developments of our knowledge in this field, especially in the case of the hydrogen bond, have been obtained both from theoretical and experimental research. Hydrogen bonds exert a profound influence on all physical and chemical properties of the materials where they are formed. This book stems from an Erasmus course at the University of Leuven, Belgium on this topic together with supplementary articles.

General Aspects.- I Intermolecular Forces.- II Quantum Chemistry of the Hydrogen Bond.- III How to Understand Liquids?.- IV Dynamic Aspects of Intermolecular Interactions.- Spectroscopic Methods.- V Vibration Aspects of the Hydrogen Bond.- VI Experimental Vibrational Characteristics of the Hydrogen Bond.- VII IR-Overtone Vibration Spectroscopy.- VIII Intermolecular Interactions at Low Temperature. Matrix Isolation Spectroscopy Applied to Hydrogen-Bonded Complexes and Charge Transfer Complexes.- IX Water - The Most Anomalous Liquid.- X Cooperative Effects Involved in H-Bond Formation.- XI NMR Studies of Elementary Steps of Multiple Proton and Deuteron Transfer in Liquids, Crystals, and Organic Glasses.- XII Cluster Research with Spectroscopic Molecular Beam Techniques.- Other Methods.- XIII Molecular Beam Scattering: Method and Results on Intermolecular Potentials.- XIV Molecular Dynamics (MD) Computer Simulations of Hydrogen-Bonded Liquids.- XV The Energy of Intermolecular Interactions in Solution.- XVI The Mobile Order Created by Hydrogen Bonds in Liquids.- XVII Hydrogen Bonding and Entropy.- XVIII Specific Intermolecular Forces and the Permittivity and Conducivity of Solutions.- XIX The Role of Hydrogen Bonds in Biochemistry.- XX Hydrogen Bonds in Crystals.- XXI Role of Intermolecular Interactions in Chromatographic Separations.