Hi Nicole,

Hydrophobic bonds are non-polar covalent bonds. They are generally formed between atoms that have relatively low electronegativity difference. For example, C-C and C-H bonds are non-polar. Generally, polar bonds that you will encounter in organic chemistry will be O-H, N-H, F-H (Your FON elements), and C-O or C=O. Those are just to name a few.

In terms of relative strength, well, it really depends. In general, the bonds that I mentioned are covalent bonds, which are the strongest bonds. The next strongest would be ionic, and the least would be hydrogen bonds, followed by other van der waal forces.

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any more questions.

Cheers, and happy studying!

Molly

Hi Nicole,

Within covalent bonds, there are also hierarchy in terms of how strong those bonds are. You are not expected to have this table memorized, but here it is in case you are curious:

http://gr.xjtu.edu.cn/c/...amp;name=DLFE-39601.pdf

The higher the bond enthalpy is, the stronger the bond. In general, if there is a large electronegativity difference, the bond will be slightly stronger. You can see that when comparing fluorine bonds against other atoms, or comparing atoms bonding to itself.

I think that you might be asking about a specific question or definition you may have seen. If you are able to, could you please let me know what question or page number of what resource you were looking at, and I will be able to better tailor my responses to your question.

Hope this helps, happy studying!

Molly

Ah, I see what's going on.

A hydrophobic patch (answer C) is not the same as a hydrophobic bond. A hydrophobic patch is a group of hydrophobic amino acids held together by their mutual hydrophobicity. This is an intermolecular bond (held together by vanderwaal forces) and its MUCH weaker than an intramolecular bond, such as a disulfide, covalent bond.

Its like the same idea behind boiling water (breaking water intermolecular bonds) and hydrolysis of water (breaking the individual H-O-H bonds). Hydrolysis is an input of A LOT more energy (actually passing electric current through water!) than simple boil and evaporate.

Hope that clarifies it,

Molly