Molecular recognition phenomenon in aromatic compounds

Abstract

The importance of aromatic interactions has been well studied in drug designing due to the presence of naturally occurring aromatic amino acids. Aromatic interactions are, themselves, very weak interactions in the range 0-1 kcal mol-1, but these interactions, along with the other non-covalent interactions, play an important role in determining molecular recognition processes in chemistry and biology. Of course, hydrogen bonding is strong enough to provide a sufficient host and guest interaction, but in the case of aromatic systems or hydrophobic systems in absence of sites for hydrogen bonding, aromatic interactions exhibit an effect of cooperatively coming to closure to the other molecules. These forces may be electrostatic in nature, influenced by the presence of electrostatic functional groups. But, sometimes, dispersion interaction dominates over the electrostatic interaction. Thus, various factors are responsible for the existence of aromatic interactions, which are studied in the present manuscript in detail. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.