Spectroscopic Measurement of the Redox Potential of Cytochrome c for the Undergraduate Biochemistry Laboratory

Abstract

Teaching redox chemistry is an important facet of undergraduate biochemistry courses, particularly with respect to developing the students' understanding of the central metabolic processes such as the mitochondrial respiratory chain and photosynthesis. We have introduced an experiment for the undergraduate metabolism course involving the spectroscopic measurement of the redox potential of cytochrome c. The experiment permits a quantitative result within a single three-hour laboratory period and complements the basic redox concepts and calculations shown in class.