Dear Sir: I would like to ask about determination of atomic charges from ab initio electrostatic potentials: For example, in CHELP, CHELPG, and Merz and Kollman, various points were normally putted at the van der Waals contact region surrounding the molecule ? Thank you. Masao Masamura Preventive Dentistry Okayama University Dental School Shikata-cho, 2-5-1 Okayama 700 Japan FAX: 81-86-235-6714 e-mail: ep7 $#at#$ dent.okayama-u.ac.jp