Basics 2 Thermodynamics Revisited

D. H. Everett, Basic Principles of Colloid Science, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 1994 A. I Rusanov, Surface thermodynamics revisited, Surface Science Reports 2005, 58, 111. 

Thermodynamics provides a valuable tool for approaching this topic. We will revisit this topic in more detail when we consider enzymes (Chapter 8) and the basic concepts of metabolism (Chapter 14). 

The essence of these interactions, like that of all interactions in biochemistry, is energy. To understand much of biochemistry—bond formation, molecular structure, enzyme catalysis—we need to understand energy. Thermodynamics provides a valuable tool for approaching this topic. We will revisit this topic in more detail when we consider enzymes (Chapter 8) and the basic concepts of metabolism (Chapter 14). 

Now that we have a basic understanding of solvents and solutes, let s examine the thermodynamics of solubility in more detail. The concepts involved lead directly to the thermodynamics of reactions. The second section of this book delves into the kinetics and mechanisms of organic transformations, which are highly dependent upon the nature of the solvent and the reactants. Hence, many of the topics discussed above will be revisited in these discussions. However, because the thermodynamics of solutions affects reactions and molecular recognition (the topic of the next chapter), it makes sense to discuss the thermodynamics of reactions here also. Therefore, in this section we explore the thermodynamic driving force for solubility and chemical reactions. 

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