Molecular Association and van der Waals Molecules

This article presents a survey of van der Waals (vdW) molecules, including what they are, what holds them together, and what their binding, structural and spectroscopic properties are. In addition, it shows, for a variety of nonpolar molecules, the relationship between the enthalpy changes of vdW dimer and trimer formation from a variety of nonpolar monomers with the respective enthalpy changes associated with the condensation of the gaseous to the liquid phase. It also discusses the importance of vdW interactions in relation to molecular modeling and the relevance to the tertiary structure of biomolecules.