DIPOLE-DIPOLE INTERACTIONS

WHAT ARE DIPOLES?

Moleculardipolesoccur due to the unequal sharing of
electrons between atoms in a molecule.
Those atoms that are more electronegative pull the bonded
electrons closer to themselves.
The build up of electron density around an atom or discreet
region of a molecule can result in a molecular dipole in which
one side of the molecule possesses a partially negative charge
and the other side a partially positive charge.
Molecules with dipoles that are not cancelled by their
molecular geometry are said to be polar.
DIPOLE-DIPOLE INTERACTIONS

Dipole-Dipole interactions result when two dipolar molecules interact with

each other through space.
When this occurs, the partially negative portion of one of the polar
molecules is attracted to the partially positive portion of the second polar
molecule.
This type of interaction between molecules accounts for many physically
and biologically significant phenomena such as the elevated boiling point
of water.
 POTENTIAL ENERGY OF SYSTEM OF CHARGES
On a subatomic level, charged atoms have an electric potential which allows them to
interact with each other.
Electric potential refers to the energy held by a charged particle as a result of it's
position relative to a second charged particle. Electric potential depends on charge
polarity, charge strength and distance.
Molecules with the same charge will repel each other as they come closer together
while molecules with opposite charges will attract.

For 2 positively charged particles interacting at a distance r, the potential energy

possessed by the system is given as
POTENTIAL ENERGY OF DIPOLE INTERACTION
DIPOLE INTERACTIONS IN MACROSYSTEMS
It would seem, based on the above discussion, that in a system composed of
a large numberof dipolar molecules randomly interacting with one another,
Thusthe negative potential energy of twomolecular dipoles participating in
a favorable interactionwould be cancelled out by the positive energy of two
molecular dipolesparticipating in a high potential energy interaction.
Contrary to our assumption, in bulk systems, it is more probable for dipolar

molecules tointeract in such a way as to minimize their potential
energy(i.e., dipoles form less energetic, more probable configurations in
accordance with the Boltzmann's Distribution).
Therefore, the interactions of dipoles in a bulk solution arenot random, and
instead adopt more probable, lower energy configurations. The following
equation takes this into account:
 BIOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE OF
DIPOLES
The potential energy from dipole interactions is important for living
organisms. The biggest impact dipole interactions have on living
organisms is seen with protein folding. Every process of protein formation,
from the binding of individual amino acids to secondary structures to
tertiary structures and even the formation of quaternary structures is
dependent on dipole-dipole interactions.
A prime example of quaternary dipole interaction that is vital to human
health is the formation of erythrocytes. Erythrocytes, commonly known as
red blood cells, are comprised of four protein subunits and a heme
molecule.
LONDON FORCES
London forcesare a type of force acting
betweenatomsand molecules. It is the weakest
intermolecular force. Itis a temporary attractive force
that results when the electrons in two adjacent atoms
occupy positions that make the atoms form temporary
dipoles.
Atoms and nonpolar molecules are electrically
symmetrical and have no dipole moment because
their electronic charge cloud is symmetrically
distributed. But a dipole may develop momentarily
when its electrons are distributed unsymmetrically
about the nucleus because of the constant motion
of the electrons .
The London forces also become stronger with larger
amounts of surface contact. Greater surface
areameans closer interaction between different
molecules.
These forces are present betweenallmolecules,
whether they are polar or nonpolar, but these forces
dominate the interaction of non-polar molecules.
The first explanation of the attraction between noble
gas atoms was given by Fritz London in 1930.He used
a quantum-mechanical theory based onsecond-order
perturbation theory. Perturbation theoryis a set of
approximation schemes directly related to
mathematicalperturbationfor describing a
complicated quantum system in terms of a simpler
one.
The following approximation is obtained for the
dispersion interaction between atoms A and B-

Where,
and are the dipole polarizabilities of the respective atoms,
and are the first ionization potentials of the atoms,
R is the intermolecular distance.
 Contribution of the dispersion to the total intermolecular interaction energy

Molecule pair % of the total energy of interaction

Ne-Ne 100

CH4-CH4 100

HCl-HCl 86

HBr-HBr 96

HI-HI 99

CH3Cl-CH3Cl 68

NH3-NH3 57

H2O-H2O 24

HCl-HI 96

H2O-CH4 87
EFFECTS OF LONDON FORCES

Melting Point and Boiling Point of non polar substances

Solubility of one substance in another
Deviation of gases from ideal gas law