Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 21, 2026
From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Biomolecular halogen bonds
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1870, USA, shing.ho@colostate.edu.
Abstract:
Halogens are atypical elements in biology, but are common as substituents in ligands, including thyroid hormones and inhibitors, which bind specifically to proteins and nucleic acids. The short-range, stabilizing interactions of halogens - now seen as relatively common in biology - conform generally to halogen bonds characterized in small molecule systems and as described by the σ-hole model. The unique properties of biomolecular halogen bonds (BXBs), particularly in their geometric and energetic relationship to classic hydrogen bonds, make them potentially powerful tools for inhibitor design and molecular engineering. This chapter reviews the current research on BXBs, focusing on experimental studies on their structure-energy relationships, how these studies inform the development of computational methods to model BXBs, and considers how BXBs can be applied to the rational design of more effective inhibitors against therapeutic targets and of new biological-based materials.
More Related Videos
06:48Author Spotlight: Evaluation of Protein-Condensate Dynamics in Live Human Cells
Published on: January 5, 2024
10:01Combining Chemical Cross-linking and Mass Spectrometry of Intact Protein Complexes to Study the Architecture of Multi-subunit Protein Assemblies
Published on: November 28, 2017
Related Concept Videos
01:04Hydrogen Bonds
00:26Hydrogen Bonds
Hydrogen Bonds Control the World!
Because hydrogen has very weak electronegativity when it binds with a strongly electronegative atom, such as oxygen or nitrogen, electrons in the bond are unequally shared....
02:41Formation of Halohydrin from Alkenes
02:46Halogenation of Alkenes
Consider the bromination of cyclopentene. Molecular bromine is polarized in the proximity of the π electrons of cyclopentene. An electrophilic bromine atom adds across the double bond, forming a cyclic bromonium ion intermediate.
02:45Alkyl Halides
Alkyl halides are halogen-substituted alkanes wherein one or more hydrogen atoms of an alkane is replaced by a halogen atom such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine. The carbon atom in an alkyl halide is bonded to the halogen atom, which is sp3-hybridized and exhibits a tetrahedral shape.
Unlike alkyl halides, compounds in which a halogen atom is bonded to an sp2 -hybridized carbon atom of a carbon-carbon double bond (C=C) are called vinyl halides. Whereas aryl...
02:35Noncovalent Attractions in Biomolecules
Four types of noncovalent interactions are hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.
Hydrogen bonding results from the electrostatic attraction of a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to a strong-electronegative atom like oxygen,...