Electrostatics at the origin of the stability of phosphate-phosphate complexes locked by hydrogen bonds.

Stronger than you'd think: Ab initio calculations reveal that hydrogen bonds can lock phosphates into stable gas-phase complexes, showing that hydrogen bonding can overcome anion-anion repulsion. These complexes present a large energetic barrier of dissociation. The stability of the complexes can be explained in terms of the electrostatic interaction in the hydrogen-bond region.