The tendency of
hydrocarbons (or of
lipophilic hydrocarbon-like groups in solutes) to form
intermolecular aggregates in an aqueous medium, and analogous
intramolecular interactions. The name arises from the attribution of the phenomenon to the apparent
repulsion between water and
hydrocarbons. However, the phenomenon ought to be attributed to the effect of the hydrocarbon-like
groups on the water-water interaction. The misleading alternative term '
hydrophobic bond' is discouraged.
Source:
PAC, 1994, 66, 1077
(Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994))
on page 1123