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Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: mozEE on April 10, 2009, 05:42:56 PM

Title: CHEMICAL PROCESSES OF TOXINS
Post by: mozEE on April 10, 2009, 05:42:56 PM

I have a project in chemistry which involves the research of biological toxins, and their effects on the human body. All the google results show biological definitions and explanations for toxins and their reactions. Does anyone know of any good books or webpages that explain toxins and how they work from a CHEMISTRY perspective?

I would like something along these lines:
Toxin A reacts with Cell X because the nerve cells work with chemical Compound P, but Toxin A disrupts this natural process through this reaction...etc.

Title: Re: CHEMICAL PROCESSES OF TOXINS
Post by: 408 on April 10, 2009, 06:02:18 PM

https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=11940

a quote: "CN- binds to the cytochrome c oxidase enzyme which catalyses chemical energy generation via ATP in the mitochondria (semi-autonomous genetic and functional units) of cells. This enzyme stores energy via the Fe2+->Fe3+ + e equilibrium, however in-vivo the iron is not free but bound to an extremely large protein of mass 10^5 au. The CN- complexes the metal centre so it is no longer able to change oxidation states."

The writer of that post did an amazing job on the research.

Title: Re: CHEMICAL PROCESSES OF TOXINS
Post by: nj_bartel on April 10, 2009, 10:29:53 PM

roguescience might have some of that info too, but be forewarned - if you go there you will pretty certainly be flagged by the government as a potential danger

Title: Re: CHEMICAL PROCESSES OF TOXINS
Post by: lancenti on April 11, 2009, 12:58:49 PM

You can actually try to look it up in books on Pharmacology, or Medicinal Chemistry.

Oxford University Press has one "Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry" which has a few examples along the way.

Title: Re: CHEMICAL PROCESSES OF TOXINS
Post by: Loyal on April 11, 2009, 03:30:45 PM

If you know which toxins you want to look up generally you can find the information quite easily with a google search.   And if you need to cite it as a source you can always restrict your search to .edu sites since they are much more credible.