Assembling a program in bioinorganic chemistry that is scientifi- cally relevant, well defined, and self-consistent is not an easy task. In this attempt we decided to consider zinc enzymes, copper oxidases, cytochromes and cytochrome oxidase. The choice is in part due to the great attention that the current specialized literature devotes to these topics, which are now debated among chemists, biochemists, biophysicists, etc .. We believe that hydration reactions, hydrolytic and oxidative processes have much in common from the point of view of the reaction mechanisms, the comprehension of which...

Assembling a program in bioinorganic chemistry that is scientifi cally relevant, well defined, and self-consistent is not an easy task. In this attempt we decided to consider zinc enzymes, copper oxidases, cytochromes and cytochrome oxidase. The choice is in part due to the great attention that the current specialized literature devotes to these topics, which are now debated among chemists, biochemists, biophysicists, etc .. We believe that hydration reactions, hydrolytic and oxidative processes have much in common from the point of view of the reaction mechanisms, the comprehension of which...