I

Abstract

Water molecules adjacent to an organic (nonpolar) liquid or solid phase and also adjacent to single hydrophobic molecules or hydrophobic parts of molecules are forming a shell-like structure via hydrogen bonding. Frank and Evans [i] have called this ’iceberg structure’ because of its similarity with the structure of ice. This structure building is associated with a loss of entropy, and therefore that effect is partially responsible for the low solubility of non-polar liquids in water, for ! micelle formation, protein folding, etc. [ii]. See also’hydrophobic effect.