ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some problems arising in the study of processes in respiratory chains, oxidative phosphorylation and other problems of enzyme catalysis. These involve in particular the coupling of reactions and energy recuperation, physical mechanisms of enzymatic reactions, intramolecular electric fields, and electron structure. The enzyme may provide a conjunction of several reactions for which the energy evolved in some reactions may be used to stimulate others. The analogy with a mechanical machine is only formal. Indeed, the main characteristic features of the perfect mechanical machine are as follows: work is performed mainly due to ballistic motion; and the trajectory is single-valued and definitely leads to the final result during a definite time. The rate of the enzyme process, as well as the rate of ordinary chemical reactions, depend to a great extent on the overlap of the electron orbitals of the atoms involved in the elementary transformation.
