Title: van der Waals forces
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - van der Waals forces
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.V06597
Status: current

Definition
The attractive or repulsive forces between molecular entities (or between groups within the same molecular entity) other than those due to bond formation or to the electrostatic interaction of ions or of ionic groups with one another or with neutral molecules. The term includes: dipole–dipole, dipole-induced dipole and London (instantaneous induced dipole-induced dipole) forces. The term is sometimes used loosely for the totality of nonspecific attractive or repulsive intermolecular forces.

Related Terms
- London: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/L03617
- bond: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/B00697
- dipole-induced dipole: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/D01759
- dipole–dipole: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/D01758
- intermolecular: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/I03098
- molecular entities: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/M03986

Source
- PAC, 1994, 66, 1077. 'Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 1175 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466051077)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/V06597/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/V06597/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/V06597/xml

Citation: Citation: 'van der Waals forces' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.V06597
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-04-21T05:48:29+00:00