Electron transfer direct measurement

As discussed before in the case of nucleic acids the authors have also considered the incidence of the interfacial conformation of the hemoproteins on the appearance of the SERRS signals from the chromophores. Although under their Raman conditions no protein vibration can be observed, the possibility of heme loss or protein denatura-tion are envisaged to explain a direct interaction of the heme chromophores with the electrode surface in the case of the adsorl Mb. extensive denaturation of Cytc at the electrode appears unlikely to the authors on the basis of the close correspondence of the surface and solution spectra. Furthermore, the sluggish electron transfer kinetics measured by cyclic voltammetry in the case of Cytc is also an argument in favour of some structural hindrance for the accessibility to the heme chromophore in the adsorbed state of Cytc. This electrochemical aspect of the behaviour of Cytc has very recently incited Cotton et al. and Tanigushi et al. to modify the silver and gold electrode surface in order to accelerate the electron transfer. The authors show that in the presence of 4,4-bipyridine bis (4-pyridyl)disulfide and purine an enhancement of the quasi-reversible redox process is possible. The SERRS spectroscopy has also permitted the characterization of the surface of the modified silver electrode. It has teen thus shown, that in presence of both pyridine derivates the direct adsorption of the heme chromophore is not detected while in presence of purine a coadsorption of Cytc and purine occurs In the case of the Ag-bipyridyl modified electrode the cyclicvoltammetric and SERRS data indicate that the bipyridyl forms an Ag(I) complex on Ag electrodes with the appropriate redox potential to mediate electron transfer between the electrode and cytochrome c. 

This example relates to a ground-state outer-sphere complex (p) existing in labile equilibrium with reactants A+ and B. Other systems considered include photoelectron emission, directly bonded systems (such as Fe CF+ - Fe Cl +), and charge transfer to and from the solvent. Meyer concentrates on intervalence charge transfer and intramolecular thermal electron transfer in homo-nuclear mixed-valence complexes. He remarks that the ideal experiment will be to measure both IT band energies and the rate of intramolecular electron transfer directly for an ion like [(bipy)2ClRu Hpyz)Ru Cl(bipy)2] , since it will then be possible to sketch the complete energy profile and to obtain the frequency factor for the thermal process. 

Barker J R 1984 Direct measurement of energy transfer in rotating large molecules in the electronic ground state J. Chem. Phys. 88 11... 

Walker G 0, Barbara P F, Doom S K, Dong Y and Hupp J T 1991 Ultrafast measurements on direct photoinduced electron transfer in a mixed-valence complex J. Rhys. Chem. 95 5712-15... 

The use of direct electrochemical methods (cyclic voltammetry Pig. 17) has enabled us to measure the thermodynamic parameters of isolated water-soluble fragments of the Rieske proteins of various bci complexes (Table XII)). (55, 92). The values determined for the standard reaction entropy, AS°, for both the mitochondrial and the bacterial Rieske fragments are similar to values obtained for water-soluble cytochromes they are more negative than values measured for other electron transfer proteins (93). Large negative values of AS° have been correlated with a less exposed metal site (93). However, this is opposite to what is observed in Rieske proteins, since the cluster appears to be less exposed in Rieske-type ferredoxins that show less negative values of AS° (see Section V,B). 

Many of the electrochemical techniques described in this book fulfill all of these criteria. By using an external potential to drive a charge transfer process (electron or ion transfer), mass transport (typically by diffusion) is well-defined and calculable, and the current provides a direct measurement of the interfacial reaction rate [8]. However, there is a whole class of spontaneous reactions, which do not involve net interfacial charge transfer, where these criteria are more difficult to implement. For this type of process, hydro-dynamic techniques become important, where mass transport is controlled by convection as well as diffusion. 

Maehashi et al. (2007) used pyrene adsorption to make carbon nanotubes labeled with DNA aptamers and incorporated them into a field effect transistor constructed to produce a label-free biosensor. The biosensor could measure the concentration of IgE in samples down to 250 pM, as the antibody molecules bound to the aptamers on the nanotubes. Felekis and Tagmatarchis (2005) used a positively charged pyrene compound to prepare water-soluble SWNTs and then electrostatically adsorb porphyrin rings to study electron transfer interactions. Pyrene derivatives also have been used successfully to add a chromophore to carbon nanotubes using covalent coupling to an oxidized SWNT (Alvaro et al., 2004). In this case, the pyrene ring structure was not used to adsorb directly to the nanotube surface, but a side-chain functional group was used to link it covalently to modified SWNTs. 

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