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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes
Published on: January 16, 2016
Solvation of proteins: linking thermodynamics to geometry
Hendrik Hansen-Goos1, Roland Roth, Klaus Mecke
1Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Heisenbergstrasse 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
Abstract:
We calculate the solvation free energy of proteins in the tube model of Banavar and Maritan [Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 23 (2003)10.1103/RevModPhys.75.23] using morphological thermodynamics which is based on Hadwiger's theorem of integral geometry. Thereby we extend recent results by Snir and Kamien [Science 307, 1067 (2005)10.1126/science.1106243] to hard-sphere solvents at finite packing fractions and obtain new conclusions. Depending on the solvent properties, parameter regions are identified where the beta sheet, the optimal helix, or neither is favored.
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