Some Aspects of Enzyme Catalysed Asymmetric Reactions of Symmetrical Molecules

Abstract

Intra- and intermolecular interactions involving the residual forces leading to the formation of bonds other than covalent ones are of paramount biological importance. If these residual forces did not exist no aggregate of organic molecules would appear, this means that at submicroscopic level a random mixture of molecules would exist; at microscopic level, well defined membrane structures would not appear; and at macroscopic level no beings like plant, bird or man would be born. Aspects of these interactions are discussed in respect to the structure of nucleic acids, to their replication, to the conformation of proteins and the regulation of their genesis and their function, to the cohesion of membrane structures, in a word in connection with many basic processes of life; the concept of complementarity governs the enzyme-sub strate interaction.