Thermodynamic Measurements

When studying protein structure and function, it is essential to measure various physical quantities, including: – thermal and chemical stability – binding affinity to a ligand – solubility – dynamics and flexibility – reactivity One would like to predict thermodynamic properties from structure alone When two interacting molecules come together in water – solvent molecules are released from the binding surface – solute molecules form bonds (H-bonds, van der Waals contact, etc) – e.g. predict and tabulate all enthalpic and entropic changes