Question

Question #75ec3

Answer 1

The interaction in tertiary structure is not van der Waals force.

Explanation:

Tertiary stuructures of protein molecules are formed by interaction between two amino acid side chains, including:

(a) disulfide bonds (-S-S-) between cysteine residues
(b) hydrophobic interaction between hydrophobic groups.
(c) hydrogen bonds (H・・・O)
(d) ionic bonds

A hydrophobic interaction(lower right), hydorogen bonds (upper right and lower left)and an ionic bond(upper left) are shown in the figure below.
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In general, these interactions are not considered to be van der Waals forces. The most important interaction in tertiary structure is hydrophobic interaction, but it is not an electrostatic effect(=van der Waals force) but an entropic effect.

Here is a previous question on Socratic:
How would you explain the difference between van der Waals interactions and hydrophobic interactions?
https://socratic.org/questions/how-would-you-explain-the-difference-between-van-der-waals-interactions-and-hydr