Biomolecular recognition, the process by which biomolecules recognize and bind to their molecular targets, typically highly specific, high affinity and reversible, and is generalizable to an effectively unlimited range of aqueous analytes. Consequently, it has been exploited in a wide range of diagnostic and synthetic technologies. Biomolecular recognition is typically driven by many weak interactions working in concert. The most important of these interactions include (i) the electrostatic interaction due to permanent charges, dipoles, and quadrupoles, (ii) the polarization of charge distributions by the interaction partner leading to induction and dispersion forces, (iii) Pauli-exclusion principle-derived inter-atomic repulsion, and (iv) a strong, “attractive” force arising largely from the entropy of the solvent and termed the hydrophobic effect. Because the aqueous environment significantly reduces the impact of electrostatic and induction interactions, the hydrophobic effect is often the dominant force stabilizing the formation of correct biomolecule–target complexes. The other effects are nevertheless important in defining the specificity of the macromolecule toward its target by destabilizing binding events in which a less-than-ideal network of interactions between two partners would be established.