Principles of Bioinorganic Chemistry [antikvár]

Bioinorganic chemistry is a leading discipline at the interface of chemistry and biology. Many critical processes require metal ions, including respiration, much of metabolism, nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis, development, nerve transmission, muscle contraction, signal transduction, and protection against toxic and mutagertic agents. Unnatural metals have been introduced into human biology as diagnostic probes and drugs. As more systems requiring metal ions have been discovered, the nimiber of research papers in bioinorganic chemistry has multiplied to the point where what was once an expanding frontier is now a maturing one. From the many beautiful studies of bioinorganic systems have emerged not only deep insight into individual cases, but also principles that tie together seemingly imrelated facts. This book attempts to unify the field of bioinorganic chemistry by identifying the principles that have emerged and arranging them in a logical and consistent order. We first consider which metal ions are used in living organisms, why nature might have chosen them, how they get into cells, and how their concentrations are regulated. We next discuss how metals bind to biopolymers, how metal binding can fold biopolymers, leading to function, and how they are inserted into their active centers. We finally treat the major roles of metal ions in biological systems, as electron carriers, centers for binding and activating substrates, agents for transferring atoms and groups, and as core imits, or "bioinorganic chips," the functions of which can be timed in a given biological environment to perform a critical function. For each of these topics we first identify the fundamentals and then illustrate them with selected examples for which, in general, a consensus has emerged about the pertinent structural and mechanistic themes. Attention is paid not only to naturally occurring metal ions, but also to those that are introduced in chemotherapy, are employed as radiopharmaceutical or magnetic resonance imaging agents, or whose concentrations must be limited to avoid toxic or environmentally harmful effects. Consequently, the book should appeal to members of the medical as well as the chemical and biological commimities. xv