Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Theoretical Evidence Against the Existence of Polywater

Abstract

WE present here new results that disprove a widely discussed, and seemingly successful, structural model for polywater1, which was derived using semi-empirical calculations, and obtained its utility by consistently correlating more than twenty experimental observations. Defeat of this model thus casts serious doubt on the existence of a new water allotrope. It is important to distinguish clearly between the essentially empirical interrelation of experiments achieved by the original model and the current attack on it, because it is obvious from ref. 1 that we have placed ourselves in the unusual and all too easy to discredit position of being authors both of the original model and of the new results against it.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Allen, L. C., and Kollman, P. A., Science, 167, 1443 (1970).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lippincott, E. R., Stromberg, R. R., Grant, W. H., and Cessac, G. L., Science, 164, 1482 (1969).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Allen, L. C., and Kollman, P. A., J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 92, 4108 (1970).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Derjaguin, B. V., Zhelezny, B. V., Rabinovich, Ya. I., Simonova, V. Kh., Talayev, M. V., and Churayev, N. V., Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 190, 372 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Derjaguin, B. V., Zhelezny, B. V., Zakhavayeva, N. N., Kiseleva, O. A., Konovalov, A. I., Lychnikov, D. S., Rabinovich, Ya. I., Talayev, M. F., and Churayev, N. V., Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 189, 1282 (1969).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

ALLEN, L., KOLLMAN, P. Theoretical Evidence Against the Existence of Polywater. Nature 233, 550–551 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/233550a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/233550a0

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing