The Biological Importance of Iron

FIGURE 13.2 The reaction catalysed by ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs). (FmmStubbe, Ge, Yee, 2001. Copyright2001, with permission from Elsevier.) 

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In this chapter we describe selected aspects of the biological chemistry of iron, with particular reference to iron-containing enzymes. It would be difficult to underestimate the biological importance of iron for almost all... 

Such a large interest in this field is primarily caused by the biological importance of iron porphyrin complexes as oxygen carriers in hemoglobin and... 

As soon as the first N2 complex was reported, many workers began looking for compounds of iron and molybdenum because of the biological importance of these metals. Compounds of iron were soon prepared, but it was not until this year that the first molybdenum-N2 compounds were found. Misono et al. have reported (25) the composition of the molybdenum complex mentioned earlier, together with the preparation of a second complex containing two molecules of N2. 

L. J. Henderson has developed the concept of environmental fitness, and has shown that the unique properties of the primary elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, endow their compounds with the maximal fitness for the manifestation of life. This concept has not yet been extended to the other elements, although it is interesting to speculate on the biological importance of magnesium and iron. Without the former there would be no chlorophyll, without the latter there would be no haemoglobin. 

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