The Role of Weak and Specific Forces in the Interaction of Amino Acids with Cytosine, Uracil and Caffeine

It is shown that the interactions of amino acids with nucleic acid bases and caffeine can, depending on the nature of the amino acids, be characterized as either weak, i.e. accompanied by partial molecular dehydration, or as specific, resulting in the formation of associates (dimers) by means of hydrogen bonding or π-π-interactions (stacking interactions).