A molecular torsion balance was designed to study and measure OH-pi interactions between protic solvents and aromatic surfaces. These specific solvent solute interactions were measured via their influence on the folded unfolded equilibrium of an N-arylimide rotor. Protic solvents displayed systematically weaker solvophobic interactions than aprotic solvents with similar solvent cohesion parameters. This was attributed to the formation of OH-pi interactions between the protic solvents and the exposed aromatic surfaces in the unfolded conformer that offset the stronger solvophobic effects for protic solvents.