Water dramatically influences noncovalent interactions. Introduction Water is the most abundant substance in living systems. Consequently, all aspects of a cell's function are necessarily influenced by the physical and chemical properties of water. The unusual properties of water are due to hydrogen bonding. This indicates a strong cohesive force exists between water molecules, which does not exist between these other molecules.
Water molecules are polar.
The possess a permanent electrical dipole The oxygen is tetrahedral with the two hydrogens occupying two of the four positions and two pairs of unshared electrons occupying the remaining two positions. This gives it a partial negative charge, while the hydrogens have partial positive charge. The water dipole leads to dipole-dipole electrostatic attraction between water molecules, with the positively charged hydrogen on one water molecule attracted to the negatively charged oxygen of a neighboring water molecules. This interaction is known as a hydrogen bond . A hydrogen bond is formed when a hydrogen atom is shared between two electronegative atoms, one of which the hydrogen is covalently bonded to.