https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.H02907
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.