Biological communication via molecular surfaces

The use and characteristics of local properties designed to describe intermolecular interactions projected onto molecular surfaces and based on semiempirical molecular orbital theory are described. After a discussion of the local properties themselves and their relationship to intermolecular interactions and chemical reactivity, two applications are described. The first, surface-integral models for physical properties, involve integrating a functional of the local properties over the molecular surface. In the second example, we discuss a possible approach to determining the potential specificity of biological interactions based on Shannon's theory of communication.