CHM1022 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Alkaline Earth Metal, Chemical Structure, Hemocyanin
13 Oct 2018
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Biology uses metals ion and ligands to form complexes that have a variety of biochemical properties. For example the alkali metals sodium and potassium help to regulate osmotic control and the actions of nerves, whereas the alkali earth metal magnesium is often found in metallo-enzymes and functions to help muscle movement. Calcium is found in your bones and teeth, playing an important part of structural chemistry. Enzymes such as phosphatases, in plants, redox activity (photosystem. Electron transfer systems, o2 storage (haemocyanin), transport proteins. Not all proteins are made up of only amino acids, several contain what is known as a prosthetic group, which is essential a non-amino acids complex that is essential for the protein activity. The most well- known example of these is the haem moiety (a characteristic part of the molecule), which is found in haemoglobin (figure 3). If the prosthetic group contains a metal ion within the protein, it is called a metalloprotein.
