Work at the interface between the areas of inorganic and biological chemistry
has greatly intensified in recent years. Organization of the subject
material of this growing field of bioinorganic chemistry along topical lines
is fairly straightforward, if not completely satisfying. Thus whole literatures
have grown up around such problems as nitrogen fixation, heme
proteins, vitamin BIZ chemistry, carboxypeptidaa! structure and biochemistry,
metal ion transport through membranes, non-heme iron proteins,
metal activation of ATP, and copper oxidases. In planning this
special topics volume, somc attempt was made to achieve a broader scope.
For example, instead of a chapter on iron-sulfur redox proteins, it seemed
desirable to have a discussion of the entire family of metallo-redox proteins.
To the extent that the subject matter was amenable to such an
approach, the chapters reflect this philosophy.