Noncovalent interactions

Stabilizing interactions

1) Hydrogen bonds: weak electrostatic attractions between one electronegative atom (such as oxygen or nitrogen) and a hydrogen atom covalently linked to a second electronegative atom.

(2) Electrostatic interactions: relatively weak charge-charge interactions (attractions of opposite charges, repulsions of like charges) between two ionized groups.

(3) Hydrophobic interactions: the forces that tend to bring two hydrophobic groups together, reducing the total area of the two groups that is exposed to surrounding molecules of the polar solvent (water).

(4) Van der Waals interactions: weak interactions between the electric dipoles that two close-spaced atoms induce in each other.