The Living State and Cancer, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Scientific Paper

The surrounding world can be divided into two parts: alive and inanimate. What makes the difference is the subtle reactivity of living systems. The difference is so great that it is reasonable to suppose that what underlies life is a specific physical state, ‘the living state’. Living systems are built mainly of nucleic acids and proteins, the former are the guardians of the basic blueprint while the business of life is carried on by proteins. Proteins thus have to share the subtle reactivity of living systems. A closed shell protein molecule, however, has no electronic mobility, and has but a low chemical reactivity. Its orbitals are occupied by electron pairs which are held firmly. The situation can be changed by taking single electrons out of the system, this unpairs electrons, leaves half-occupied orbitals with positive electron holes, making the molecules into highly reactive paramagnetic free radicals. Therefore, the reactivity of the system depends on the degree of its electronic desaturation. In this article, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi explores electronic desaturation as a central problem of biology.

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[Biochemistry. Electrons. Charge. Nucleic Acids. Protein. Cancer. Ascorbic Acid. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi.]