Glucose To Ethanol Pathway
Why doesn’t this fermentation pathway take advantage of ATP synthesis?
I am looking at the anearoebic (sp?) Glucose to 2,3-Butandiol and Ethanol. In the ethanol production there is a step where Acetyl CoA is formed. The next step has NADH and a proton reduce the thio-ester producing acetylaldehyde and NAD+.
**Now, my question is: why doesn’t this step take direct advantage of ATP (or any triphosphate for that matter) synthesis (unlike what succinyl CoA does in the TCA cycle)?**
(I have been told) That hydroxymethylgluteryl CoA does the same thing in cholesterol synthesis.
The only thing that I can think of is that the hydride ion from NADH is favored becuase of reactivity and size (small and negative charge on one proton). This is because H- is competing with inorganic phosphate which has a resonance stabalized negative charge, so Pi is a worse nucleophile (plus steric factors of a large Pi vs. small H). Is the electrophile playing a role here?
btw – science is hard
Christ this is the most intelligent question I’ve ever seen on this site. Congratulations, but don’t expect any actual answers. I feel sure this is over the heads of anyone that uses Y!A. You might be better off in Google Groups or a dedicated chemistry forum.
Bread Fermentation
Themocracy