Recommendations for nomenclature and tables in biochemical thermodynamics

Prepared by the Panel on Biochemical Thermodynamics whose membership during the preparation of this report (1991-1993) was as follows: Convener: R. A. Alberty (USA); A. Cornish-Bowden (France); Q. H. Gibson (USA); R. N. Goldberg (USA); G. G. Hammes (USA); W. Jencks (USA); K. F. Tipton (Ireland); R. Veech (USA); H. V. Westerhoff (Netherlands); E. C. Webb (Australia).

The recommendations in this version are identical to those in the published document prepared by Robert A. Alberty (Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA), see Eur. J. Biochem., 1996, 240, 1-14; 242, 433; Pure Appl. Chem. 1994, 66, 1641-1666 [Copyright IUBMB and IUPAC]. Any comments, corrections or suggestions for a future edition should be e-mailed to g.p.moss@qmul.ac.uk (Dr G P Moss) or other member of the Committees. For problems in converting the text into a World Wide Web version see the IUBMB Nomenclature home page. A PDF (1655 kB) of the printed version is available.

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A revised 2010 version of this document is available

• Summary
• 1 Preamble
• 2 Basic 1976 Recommendations on Symbols and Nomenclature
• 3 Corresponding New Recommendations
• 4 Additional New Recommendations
  • 4.1 Recommendations concerning chemical reactions
  • 4.2 Recommendations concerning biochemical reactions
  • 4.3 The importance of distinguishing between chemical equations and biochemical equations
  • 4.4 Experimental matters
• 5 Thermodynamic Background
  • 5.1 Transformed thermodynamic properties
  • 5.2 Isomer group thermodynamics
  • 5.3 Adjustment for ionic strength
  • 5.4 Adjustment of standard thermodynamic properties of species to the desired pH and pMg
  • 5.5 Calculation of the standard formation properties of a pseudoisomer group at specified pH and pMg
  • 5.6 The actual experiment and thought experiments
  • 5.7 Linear algebra
• 6 Recommendations on Thermodynamic Tables
• 7 Nomenclature
• 8 References
• 9 Appendix: Survey of Current Biochemical Tables

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