Re: [Fis] molecular discussion

Dear Shu-Kun and Xerman,

I have recently read a draft paper by S. E. Jorgensen on "Exergy as
Orientor for the Development of Ecosystems" Exergy is a thermodynamic
property that characterizes the available energy of a system with respect
to the thermodynamic equilibrium. I was thinking that instead of entropy it
would be more appropriate the use of exergy as a companion for the term
information. In my own field of thermoeconomics we analyze how resources
are distributed among the different physical processes occurring in a
system (natural or artificial). Indeed, exergy together with the associated
irreversibility is what we control, measure, evaluate, etc. Could the same
happen in living beings at the molecular scale? Anyhow, in most
biologicomolecular instances I presume that exergy differences are minimal
(e.g dextro and levo compounds), so it is a quite a big challenge for any
entropy or exergy approach to meaningfully characterize such tiny changes.
How can we handle and control these "information changes"? Excuse me for
this bold speculation motivated by the L=S+I formula.

Bye,

Luis

PS: I also join Xerman concerns about the nature of chemical bonds.

========================

At 10:34 02/07/2003 +0200, you wrote:
>Dear Xerman,
>
>Thanks for the comments. I am writing a paper using the established
>methods of data compression to calculate the information theoretical entropy
>and assess the stability. I am very sure this is the correct approach.
>However, there is still a lot to do. What is
>the relationship between energy and information related to
>molecular recognition? For ideal gas system, energy divided by kT
>(k is Boltzmann constant and T the temperature) gives data (information
>theoretical entropy S, information I and L=S+I). How about other
>cases where the considered system is not an ideal gas system?
>Truly a lot to do.
>
>Shu-Kun
>
>"Xerm�n de la Fuente Leis (by way of "Pedro C. Mariju�n" )" wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > This is my first posting in this list. I am a chemist working on
> > laser interaction with materials. My interest on information is basically
> > related to the analysis of molecular systems, so I am delighted with the
> > current discussion on molecular recognition. In my opinion, the electronic
> > interactions play an essential role in any 'recognition' phenomena. Any
> > instance of recognition involves changes in the electronic structure of the
> > participant molecular partners: so, basically, the making or breaking of
> > what we define as 'chemical bonds'.
> >
> > Then comes my question: do we really understand "the chemical bond"
> > concept? I mean, do we have a solid theoretical bridge in between the
> > principles of quantum mechanics and the simplified views of chemists
> > (ionic, covalent, van der Waals, metalic... bond types)? Shouldn't this
> > very classification be questioned?
> >
> > If we want to understand molecular recognition as a foundation of the
> > informational phenomena of living beings, we have to discuss first the very
> > roots of that phenomenon.
> >
> > Twenty years ago, like most chemists, I shared the view that chemical
> > structures were all 'balls and sticks'. Now I think we have to explore a
> > new (informational?) approach beyond the limitations and the very few
> > 'model systems' analyzed by quantum mechanics.
> >
> > best regards
> >
> > Xerman
> >
> > PS. My greetings to Shu-Kun for his very interesting papers on molecular
> > recognition.
> >
> > Xerm�n de la Fuente
> > Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Arag�n
> > CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza
> > Laboratorio de Procesado de Materiales por L�ser
> > Mar�a de Luna, 3 50018 Zaragoza
> > Tel. 976.76.25.27 � 607.28.20.07
> > Fax 976.76.19.57
> > email: xerman@posta.unizar.es
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > fis mailing list
> > fis@listas.unizar.es
> > http://webmail.unizar.es/mailman/listinfo/fis
>
>--
>Dr. Shu-Kun Lin
>Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
>Matthaeusstrasse 11, CH-4057 Basel, Switzerland
>Tel. +41 79 322 3379, Fax +41 61 302 8918
>e-mail: lin@mdpi.org
>http://www.mdpi.org/lin
>
>
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Received on Thu Jul 3 14:16:06 2003