ABSTRACT
Without water, life as we know it would not exist. Life arose in an aqueous medium and the content of water in living organisms ranges from about 50–65% in adult humans. The human heart and brain are about 70–75% water whereas the human lungs are about 80–85% water. In general, enzymes work by lowering the activation energy of a reaction, making the reaction faster and easier. Biological systems rarely have changes in temperature or pressure, so the direction of a chemical reaction by using a measure of potential energy. In general, minimization of free energy determines the direction of a biochemical reaction. The role of water and hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions in protein folding was noted. The tertiary structure of a protein, due to folding, is in reality a conformational issue for the macromolecule. It is therefore appropriate to comment how conformation may influence biochemical reactions.
