The strength of hydrogen bonds between two molecules is also influenced by the other atoms in the molecule, shows Spanish-Dutch research in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.

The hydrogen bond plays an important role in the interaction between biomolecules such as DNA and proteins, where it contributes to self-assembly. If you want to exploit this principle yourself, you need to understand hydrogen bonding well. That’s where recent research by Celine Nieuwland, Célia Fonseca Guerra and colleagues from VU Amsterdam and the University of Barcelona comes in, which looks at the influence of the molecular backbone of hydrogen-bonding molecules.