Author Description

What use is physical chemistry to the student of biochemistry and biology? This central question is answered in this book mainly through the use of worked examples and problems. The text is brief and concise. It starts by introducing the laws of thermodynamics, and then uses these laws to derive the equations relevant to the student in dealing with chemical equilibria (including the binding of small molecules to proteins), properties of solutions, acids and bases, and oxidation-reduction processes. The student is thus shown how a knowledge of thermodynamic qualities makes it possible to predict whether, and how, a reaction will proceed. Thermodynamics, however, gives no information about how fast a reaction will happen. The study of the rates at which processes occur (kinetics) forms the second main theme of the book. This section poses and answers questions such as `how is the rate of a reaction affected by temperature, pH, ionic strength, and the nature of the reactants? These same ideas are then shown to be useful in the study of enzyme-catalysed reactions. Sections new to the second edition deal with co-operative binding of ligands, ultracentrifugation, oxidative phosphorylation, and two-substrate enzyme kinetics, and have been designed to cater for the requirements of a wide variety of biochemistry courses. This reprint of the second edition includes a thermodynamically more rigorous account of acid/base chemistry. The text should continue to appeal to all students interested in biology and biochemistry.