title: Win some, lose some: enthalpy-entropy compensation in weak intermolecular interactions.
abstract: Enthalpy-entropy compensation is a general feature of many chemical reactions and processes in biological systems, but its origin has remained obscure. A simple thermodynamic argument suggests that enthalpy-entropy compensation is a general property of weak intermolecular interactions, and that the two contributions to the free energy should nearly balance out for a hydrogen bond at 300 K.
authors.affiliation: Organic Chemistry Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Dunitz
mesh_terms: D001669:Biochemical Phenomena; D001671:Biochemistry; D004735:Energy Transfer; D019277:Entropy; D013816:Thermodynamics