A matter of solvation
The processes underpinning how solvent and solutes molecules interact are fundamental, but still mysterious. Philip Ball investigates
The performance of an electrochemical capacitor; stereoselective catalysis for drug synthesis; how protein chains fold up. Beyond the fact that these are all chemical problems, they seem to have nothing in common with each other. Yet they do. They are all concerned in one way or another with the question of how solvent molecules interact with solutes and surfaces.