THE HYDROGEN BOND: A review of the present interpretations and an introduction to the theoretical papers presented at the Congress

The objects of this paper are (a) to provide a brief review of the concepts used in any theoretical interpretation of the hydrogen bond; (b) to discuss in a critical fashion the methods at present being used in making calculations of the energy and other properties of H-bonds; (c) to illustrate these by a discussion of the particular case of ice; (d) to introduce the series of theoretical contributions in this Congress, which follow this present paper, (e) to consider the nature of the potential energy function which describes the motion of part or the whole of the bonded region; and (f) to suggest several further lines of work which appear to the author to be worth following, either because our greater knowledge of the electron structure of a molecule now allows us to make improved calculations of properties previously estimated by less accurate treatments, or because new points of view have come to be recognized, and it is believed that wave-mechanical calculations could help to elucidate them.