Heme desolvation

Early work by Kassner recognized the influence of heme desolvation on the redox potential of heme proteins. This work suggested that the polarity of the heme environment in the protein could be the main modulator of the redox potential... 

The solvation-desolvation of the protein surface might be considered as a means of storing or spending energy in a way that can be shifted to other parts of the molecule, such as the oxygen-binding heme groups, when molecular transitions occur. 

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