Abstract
THE low activation energies generally associated with free-radical reactions have prompted several workers to explain the high velocity of various biological processes1,2, including nitrogen fixation3,4, by mechanisms involving free radicals. Burris's fixation mechanism3 postulated an enzyme–hydrogen peroxide complex and reduction or oxidation of molecular nitrogen by the free radical A h.H. or A 0.(OH)., respectively, in the latter case producing N2(OH)2. Pethica et al. 4 suggested that nitrogenase, like catalase5 and methæmoglobin6, functions by way of a ferrous–ferric couple activated (as in Fenton's reagent) by hydrogen peroxide, which they regarded as an intermediate in respiration. The link between respiration and fixation could be hydroxyl radicals which reacted with nitrogen to form N2 (OH)2.
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Chaudhary, M. T., Wilson, T. G. G., and Roberts, E. R., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, [14, 507 (1954)].
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WILSON, T., ROBERTS, E. Attempts at Nitrogen Fixation in vitro . Nature 174, 795 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/174795a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/174795a0
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