Open AccessThe extraordinary dielectric properties of biological materials and the action of enzymes.
Author(s) -
H. Fröhlich
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.72.11.4211
Subject(s) - excited state , metastability , dipole , moment (physics) , dielectric , biomolecule , action (physics) , physics , chemistry , atomic physics , chemical physics , materials science , nanotechnology , quantum mechanics
From very general theoretical considerations it is concluded that many biomolecules (i) should have metastable excited states with very high dipole moment, and (ii) should be capable of strongly excited giant dipole vibrations with frequencies near 10(11) Hz. Experimental evidence available so far seems to support these postulates. It is suggested that the two postulates should be of importance for the action of enzymes, and relevant experiments are proposed.