Molecular structure ionic forces

It should be clear by now that inorganic solids (which consist of atoms bound together by both covalent and ionic forces) do not react by either changing the bonding within a molecular structure or by reacting one-on-one in a mobile phase such as a liquid, as do orgeuiic compounds. Solids can only react at the interfiace of another solid, or in the case of a liquid-solid reaction, react with the liquid molecule at the solid interface. 

In molecular crystals held together by ionic forces (for instance, salts of organic acids) or polar forces such as hydrogen bonds (for instance, alcohols and amides), the two influences, shape and distribution of forces, may not co-operate, and it is difficult to form any definite conclusions on the structure from crystal shape and cleavage, though it is well to keep these properties in mind during structure determination, for any suggested structure should account for them. 

These interactions are frequently ionic in character. The coulombic forces of interaction between macroions and lower molecular weight ionic species are central to the life processes of the cell. For example, intermolecular interactions of nucleic acids with proteins and small ions, of proteins with anionic lipids and surfactants and with the ionic substrates of enzyme catalyzed reactions, and of ionic polysaccharides with a variety of inorganic cations are all improtant natural processes. Intramolecular coulombic interactions are also important for determining the shape and stability of biopolymer structures, the biological function of which frequently depends intimately on the conformational features of the molecule. 

For the study of adsorption to general oxide surfaces, the ideal ionic force-field would be consistent with a molecular mechanics model for dissociable water. Such a forcefield has indeed been developed and has been applied to the study of silicate (Rustad Hay, 1995) and iron(III) (Rustad et al., 1995) hydrolysis in solution, to bulk iron oxyhydroxide structures (Rustad et al., 1996a) and to the protonation of goethite surfaces (Rustad et al., 1996b). 

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