SPECIFICITY OF INTERMOLECULAR FORCES DUE TO QUANTUM-MECHANICAL AND THERMAL CHARGE FLUCTUATIONS

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Abstract
A preceding note [these Proceedings 43: 341. 1957] developed the theory of the specificity of some intermolecular forces: the forces due to fluctuations of electric charge distribution in and over the interacting molecules. It was found that for a mixture of molecules in a liquid medium these forces cause a rearrangement of the molecules, so that molecules which have the same distribution of oscillator polarizabilities and oscillator orientations over the frequency spectrum tend to associate. This means that like molecules tend to become nearest neighbors. For that reason it was said that there is specific attraction between identical molecules. This note estimates the magnitude of the forces and considers in greater detail the biological implications of their specificity. These biological implications include the duplication process of a Watson-Crick model DNA helix and the determination of protein specificities. In this way one may hope to understand the stability of the genetic material. The problem of differentiation, in particular in the early development and growth of a fertilized egg, might also be related to rearrangement free energies of the type considered here. The problem of specificity of growth-regulating substances, and the broader problem of antigen-antibody specificity, may be related to the model of protein specificity given.

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