Fundamental equation of thermodynamics for protein–ligand binding Original Research Article

For the internal energy and every thermodynamic potential that can be defined by a Legendre transform, there is a fundamental equation that contains all the thermodynamic information about a system. For a system involving the binding of molecular oxygen and hydrogen ions by a protein, fundamental equations are given for the Gibbs energy G, the transformed Gibbs energy G′ at specified pH, and the further transformed Gibbs energy G″ at specified pH and specified concentration of molecular oxygen. The Maxwell equations for these various Gibbs energies are important because they provide the connection with experimentally determined properties and increase our understanding of these properties. Measurements of the average number of oxygen molecules bound as a function of T, pH and concentration of molecular oxygen make it possible to calculate ΔfG″o of the reactant. Maxwell equations make it possible to calculate the average number of hydrogen ions bound, ΔfS″o, ΔfH″o and their partial derivatives. These relations are illustrated with numerical calculations on a simple reaction system.