抄録
The present article outlines the recent development of pulse radiolysis studies on aqueous solutions of enzyme proteins.
Pulse radiolysis method has provided much information on fast process induced by a short-lived perturbation of various substances. In recent few years, the results from an application of the method to aqueous solutions of biological macromolecules have been increasingly accumulated. Particularly an extensive work on enzyme proteins reveals that protein molecule reacts with the primary radicals produced in radiolysis of water to give a characteristic transient absorption and above 1010M-1sec-1 is determined as a rate constant for the reaction. Studies on selective reactions of inorganic radical anions with proteins suggest that radiation chemical technique could provide a new method for investigation of molecular nature of biological substances. Finally the reactivity of protein towards OH radicals is discussed in terms of tertiary structure of the protein molecule.
