Hydrogen Bonds Have Been Spotted

Hydrogen bonds are one of the most common intermolecular forces. Their presence in proteins and DNA is vital to life itself. With the help of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) scientists have seen the interactions that hydrogen makes with other atoms of molecules in close proximity. The work done with 8-hydroxyquinoline (the species used to visualize the bonds) could mean greater understanding of what a hydrogen bond exactly entails, and what this could mean for not only the definition of the bond but seeing other bonds. These other bonds or interactions don’t necessarily have to be IMFs but could be possibly in the future a covalent bond.

When I first saw the images of the bond, it just looked like some microscopic picture of cell division or yeast. To me the idea that we have the technology to see how molecules are amazing, I don’t even know how that is possible. As I write this I’m sitting in my room and thinking this is a few interactions between 3 to 5 chemical species in the image, and I’m in a room with an uncountable number of atoms and bonds between these atoms and the molecules that they make. The scale of this experiment floors me, because it is a size that is very difficult for me to understand. That is why I shared this with you because this is an important discovery and understanding the scale of the finding is also vital.

Site: http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i39/Hydrogen-Bonds-Visualized.html

Submitted by: Linnea Wethekam