A practial approach of redox-reactions using hemoproteins spectroscopy

Redox reactions are essential for many biological processes. However, it can be confusing for students to understand the inter-conversion of species with the change of their electronic state. Hemoglobin, an oxygen carrier protein, acts as an oxidizing agent in the presence of reactive oxygen species. Therefore, it can be used as a model for these reactions. Different electronic states of the iron in hemoglobin represent oxi-hemoglobin (II), met-hemoglobin (III) and ferryl-hemoglobin (IV), with different functions. Each species has its own spectroscopic properties which allow the use of spectrophotometer as a tool to study redox reactions.

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