Structural complexity of hydrogen-bonded networks

The molecular shape of a network can be characterized in detail by using information on its geometry and topology. In the case of permanent networks (e.g., those formed by a polymer melt), the structural complexity is usually measured in terms of entanglements within a chain and between chains. In this work, we show that this viewpoint can also be extended to the structural analysis of transient networks (e.g., those found in liquids with hydrogen bonding). For the hydrogen-bonded networks within clusters of simulated liquid water, we show the existence of power-law scaling in the averaged entanglement complexity as a function of cluster size. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.