Certain structure-reactivity aspects of biological macromolecules, with particular emphasis on protein folding and enzyme catalysis, are discussed herein. Furthermore, the role played by the hydrophobic effect and intramolecularity in enzymic reactivity are evaluated afresh, with...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/ijbcrr/2022/v31i9778
The roots of the hydrophobic effect (HE) apparently lie in certain chemical principles, although it has far-reaching implications across a swath of chemical biology. In particular, the HE drives the formation of micelles, the catalytic properties of which are believed to model th...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/ajocs/2021/v9i419078
The interpretation of transition state theory via reaction energy profiles is problematical, as it remains unclear whether the energy being represented is the Gibbs energy or the potential energy. Although transition state theory is formally an extension of classical equilibrium...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/ajocs/2021/v9i419076
Alternatives to conventional mechanisms of enzyme catalyzed reactions, although within the ambit of transition state theory, are explored herein. This is driven by reports of a growing number of enzymes forming covalently linked enzyme-substrate intermediates, which clearly devia...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/ajocs/2021/v9i319075
The origins of the molecular-chiral homogeneity that is the very basis of life remain a tantalizing mystery. Molecular chirality itself is manifest in its interaction with radiation, particularly as optical activity, although an intriguing alternative technique based in X-ray cry...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/ajocs/2021/v9i219070
The fundamental bases of liquid crystals and polymers–both widely employed in, and critically important to, modern society–apparently remain poorly understood. Hence, the need to explore alternative explanations to current paradigms. Thus, liquid crystals are viewed as partially...
Despite decades of intense study, certain physico-chemical aspects of the nucleic acids–the genetic repository of life–remain enigmatic. Thus, solutions of DNA are apparently constituted of varying amounts of double and single-stranded forms, with melting studies being inconclusi...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/ajbgmb/2020/v5i330134
New approaches towards understanding the reactivity of enzymes–central to chemical biology and a key to comprehending life itself–are discussed herein. The approach overall is based on the idea that structural and reactivity features uniquely characteristic of enzymes–in being ab...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/ajrb/2020/v7i230133
The exonuclease and endonuclease activities of the DNA polymerases, which extend their proof-reading capabilities and maintain high fidelity in the replication process, apparently conflict with the principle of microscopic reversibility. However, in-depth mechanistic analysis of...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/ajbgmb/2018/v1i1454
The role of phosphocreatine (PC) as an ‘energy buffer’ in muscular contraction needs to be reassessed from several viewpoints. In particular, the view that the hydrolysis of PC is more exergonic than that of ATP is erroneous, as the enthalpy and Gibbs free energy changes (respect...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/IJBCRR/2017/34643
This short review commentary deals with the evidence for the DNA double helix and raises the intriguing question: does it exist to any significant extent in the solution phase? Well past the sixtieth year of its discovery via X-ray diffraction, the DNA double helix has now acquir...
Open access
Research Article10.9734/IJBCRR/2016/31086