On the significance of hydrogen bonds for the discrimination between CO and O2 by myoglobin
Quantum chemical geometry optimisations have been performed on realistic models of the active site of myoglobin using density functional methods. The energy of the hydrogen bond between the distal histidine residue and CO or O2 has been estimated to be 8 kJ/mol and 32 kJ/mol, respectively. This 24 k J/mol energy difference accounts for most of the discrimination between CO and O2 by myoglobin (abo
