Taking a breath
ChemSci Pick of the Week
Scientists in the US are uncovering new insights into the process by which food and oxygen are converted to energy in the body.
When we breathe we take in oxygen, which goes on to react with glucose – a type of sugar that we get from food – in the body to release carbon dioxide, water, and energy in the form of a chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This chemical reaction – known as respiration – is fundamental to human life.
A key part of the respiration reaction is when O2 is converted – or 'reduced' – to H2O. This requires the oxygen–oxygen bond to be broken, a process that is catalysed by an enzyme called a heme-copper oxidase.
Dr Kenneth Karlin and his team at John Hopkins University in the US are working to create synthetic models for heme-copper oxidases, and they are using this model to study the enzyme’s behaviour.
"Our research aims to gain further insight into the pathway of the enzyme, by making and studying synthetic mimics", says Dr Karlin. He explains: "The overall enzymatic process that we are studying is like the gears in a clock - our research is like focusing in on the properties of one specific gear, for example the one that moves one of the hands around the clock, in order to try to gain a better understanding of the clock as a whole."
Oxygen reduction is not only necessary for human life. It is the crucial reaction occurring in fuel cells. This means that Dr Karlin’s work could have applications in energy research in the future.
This article is free to read in our open access, flagship journal Chemical Science: Melanie A Ehudin et al., Chem. Sci., 2019, Accepted Manuscript. DOI: 10.1039/C8SC05165H. You can access our 2019 ChemSci Picks in this article collection.
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