Hydrogen bonds: the toolkit

Hydrogen Bonds

Short hydrogen bonds in proteins.

Short hydrogen bonds are present in many chemical and biological systems. It is well known that these short hydrogen bonds are found in the active site of enzymes and aid enzyme catalysis. This study aims to systematically characterize all short hydrogen bonds from a nonredundant dataset of protein structures. The study has revealed that short hydrogen bonds are commonly found in proteins and a...

More hydrogen bonds for the (structural) biologist.

Why does a given protein structure form and why is this structure stable? These fundamental biochemical questions remain fascinating and challenging problems because the physical bases of the forces that govern protein structure, stability and folding are still not well understood. Now, a general concept of hydrogen bonding in proteins is emerging. This concept involves not only N-H and O-H don...

Hydrogen Bonds and Life in the Universe

The scientific community is allocating more and more resources to space missions and astronomical observations dedicated to the search for life beyond Earth. This experimental endeavor needs to be backed by a theoretical framework aimed at defining universal criteria for the existence of life. With this aim in mind, we have explored which chemical and physical properties should be expected for ...

Vibrational dynamics of hydrogen bonds