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The Van der Waals Force

Describes the short-range attractive forces between atoms, crucial for stabilizing protein secondary structures like alpha-helices and beta-sheets.

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The statement of the theorem

Define the pairwise interaction potential

V_{vdW}(r_{ij})

between two non-bonded atoms

i

and

j

separated by distance

r_{ij}

using the Lennard-Jones potential:

V_{vdW}(r_{ij}) = 4\epsilon_{ij} \left[ \left( \frac{\sigma_{ij}}{r_{ij}} \right)^{12} - \left( \frac{\sigma_{ij}}{r_{ij}} \right)^{6} \right].

The total non-bonded interaction energy

E_{vdW}

is the summation over all pairs of atoms:

E_{vdW} = \sum_{i < j} V_{vdW}(r_{ij}).

Source: Wikipedia