FREE-ENERGY OF SOLVATION, INTERACTION, AND BINDING OF ARBITRARY CHARGE-DISTRIBUTIONS IMBEDDED IN A DIELECTRIC CONTINUUM

A theoretical treatment of solvation and interaction of two arbitrary charge distributions imbedded in a dielectric continuum solvent is pre sented. The electrostatic component of the total free energy of such a charge assembly contains contributions from the solvation energies of each charge distribution, and modified Coulomb interaction energies b etween the two charge distributions. The theory developed is illustrat ed for special cases along with an application to the interaction betw een two ions in a continuum solvent.