THE ROLE OF STRONG H-BONDS IN NATURE: A GALLERY OF FUNCTIONAL H-BONDS
THE ROLE OF STRONG H-BONDS IN NATURE: A GALLERY OF FUNCTIONAL H-BONDS
Functional H-bonds are H-bonds which are significantly stronger than the surrounding ones and, for this reason, can play a specific role in the mechanism of action of important chemical or biochemical processes. This chapter reports a preliminary collection of these bonds organized in a graphic gallery of cases with little discussion, a collection of themes which have already been, or deserve to be, investigated to unravel the true role played by the H-bond in natural systems. Themes treated include: RAHB-driven processes (prototropic tautomerism in heteroconjugated systems, secondary structure of proteins, and DNA base pairing); H-bond-controlled crystal packing; bistable H-bonds in functional molecular materials (ferro/antiferroelectric crystals, excited-state proton transfer); low-barrier charge-assisted H-bonds in enzymatic catalysis (the catalytic triad of serine proteases; and proton transmission in water chains (Grotthuss mechanism, gramicidine A channel, aquaporin channels).
Keywords: Functional H-bonds, prototropic tautomerism, α-helices, β-pleated sheets, DNA base pairing, crystal packing, ferroelectrics, ESIPT, serine proteases, ketosteroid isomerase
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