Recent progress in understanding hydrophobic interactions

We present here a brief review of direct force measurements between hydrophobic surfaces in aqueous solutions. For almost 70 years, researchers have attempted to understand the hydrophobic effect (the low solubility of hydrophobic solutes in water) and the hydrophobic interaction or force (the unusually strong attraction of hydrophobic surfaces and groups in water). After many years of research into how hydrophobic interactions affect the thermodynamic properties of processes such as micelle formation (self-assembly) and protein folding, the results of direct force measurements between macroscopic surfaces began to appear in the 1980s. Reported ranges of the attraction between variously prepared hydrophobic…