\Lesson

We're going to review some basics about chemical reactions and about acids. However, we will mostly
focus on a couple of chemistry topics you may be unfamiliar with, but they're actually pretty important
in biochemistry. The first is Le Chatelier's principle of dynamic equilibrium and chemical reactions, and
the second is chemical buffers.

So let's begin by reviewing the parts of a chemical equation. We start with the reactants which undergo
the chemical reaction to form the products. In the process, bonds in the reactants are broken and new
bonds are formed. But at no point are any atoms created or destroyed during a chemical reaction. You
may remember this as the law of conservation of mass, and the reason why you had to learn how to
balance chemical equations in grade 10 chemistry. Most chemical reactions are depicted by a single
arrow pointing from the reactants to the products.

Dynamic Equilibrium

As we explore the chemical reactions that occur in the body, we will find that many of them are
reversible. That means that the forward reaction is possible, but so is the reverse reaction. So we use
double arrows to represent these types of reactions, and these reactions will try to achieve something
called dynamic equilibrium. This means that both the forward and reverse reactions are occurring at the
same rate. So even if the reaction is happening, the concentration of reactant and the concentration of
product remain constant. Constant, not equal. There may be more of one compound or more of the
other, but the relative concentrations will remain the same since both are being produced at the same
rate.

By the way, often in science, we use symbols, uh, shortcuts when writing out descriptions. The square
brackets you see surrounding the words products and reactants actually mean concentration of. So from
now on, if you see anything written inside square brackets, you should read it as the concentration of
whatever is inside the brackets. So for the definition of giving you here for dynamic equilibrium, it would
read as forward and reverse reactions at the same rate. Concentration of products and concentration of
reactants stop changing.

So back to chemical reactions. Obviously, reactions cannot always remain under dynamic equilibrium,
especially in living things. Living cells are constantly under stressors or events that throw off that
equilibrium. Let's look at the analogy of these ants moving rocks to the right and to the left at the same
rate to represent both a forward and reverse reaction. Even though the ants are constantly moving the
rocks, the sizes of the piles remain the same. That's dynamic equilibrium. A stressor might be something
like adding or removing rocks from the piles. This changes the concentration of the rocks in that pile and
throws off the dynamic equilibrium the ants have been working hard to keep.

LeBlanc's Principle

So Le Chatelier's principle, also known as the equilibrium law, states that when a system experiences a
disturbance or stress, it will respond to restore a new equilibrium state. So the system is usually a
reversible reaction, and the disturbance can be either a change in temperature, or a change in pressure,
or a change in the concentration of either the reactants or the products. Now, in living systems where
significant changes in temperature or pressure would pretty much lead to cell death, Le Chatelier's
principle only applies to changes in concentration, really. So let's take a look at this general reversible
reaction right here: A + 2B produce C + D. Now, this reaction is under dynamic equilibrium so that the
concentrations of A and B and C and D remain constant. Le Chatelier's principle aims to explain what
happens when we change those concentrations, say by adding a whole bunch of reactant A and
increasing the concentration of A in the cell. Suddenly, the dynamic equilibrium of the reaction is
stressed, and the system will respond by trying to remove the extra A that has been added, and they can
do that, it can do that by producing more C and D, so essentially shifting the equation towards the right
until equilibrium is reestablished. If, on the other hand, all the A being produced is removed from the cell
and the concentration of A is decreased, now in order to restore equilibrium, the equation will have to
shift to the left in order to produce more A and establish equilibrium once again. So according to Le
Chatelier's principle, in any reversible reaction that has established an equilibrium, any change in
concentration will shift the reaction in the direction that will establish a new equilibrium.

Example: Glycolysis

Let's take a look at an example of Le Chatelier's principle at work in the body. In the metabolic processes
unit, we will explore a biochemical process called glycolysis, which occurs at the start of cellular
respiration. Most of the reactions in this series move in a single direction from reactant to product
because the enzymes responsible for catalyzing each step of the reaction can only form products from
the reactants. That is until we get to the fifth reaction, which is catalyzed by the enzyme triose
phosphate isomerase, and this enzyme is actually able to catalyze a reaction that turns dihydroxyacetone
phosphate or DHAP into glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate or G3P, but it can also catalyze the reaction that
turns G3P into DHAP. But during glycolysis, we don't want any DHAP. In order for glycolysis to proceed,
we need G3P as a reactant for the next reaction in the series. So let's take a look at these reactions
starting from glucose. So we start with glucose, which is changed into glucose 6-phosphate, which is
changed into fructose 6-phosphate, which is changed into fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, and then fructose
1,6-bisphosphate is split into two molecules, DHAP and G3P. So as long as the cell has glucose, both
DHAP and G3P will keep getting produced, but any G3P is quickly turned into 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate.
So the enzyme triose phosphate isomerase will move only in the direction that converts DHAP into G3P,
trying to restore equilibrium into the reaction by trying to put more G3P into the system because the
G3P keeps getting removed. So this is just one small example of how chemical reactions and dynamic
equilibrium work in living systems.

Now let's take a look at how this concept applies to maintaining the pH balance of our blood.

The Problem

So the proteins in our blood have a problem. They have to be within a very specific pH range that is
slightly basic, between 7.35 and 7.45. If the blood in which they're traveling drops below or rises above
that pH range, the proteins are in trouble. Their shape will start to change, a process called denaturing,
which we'll explore later on in this course, and they are not able to do their jobs anymore. And when
that happens, the condition, which is called either acidosis or alkalosis depending on which way the pH
shifts, can be very dangerous. The person can become sick, and if the pH drops or raises above 7.8 or
drops below seven, the patient can even die from either the blood becoming too acidic or too basic.
Thankfully, we do have a system in our blood that prevents significant changes in our blood pH since
obviously significant changes can be extremely dangerous to our health. And this system involves
something called a buffer.
So what is a buffer?

Let's first take a look at uh what a buffer does, and then we will get into how a buffer works. And here's
something neat. If you add a few drops of a strong acid, like say hydrochloric acid, to a liter of pure
water, the pH drops from a neutral pH of 7 to a very acidic pH of 2. But if the same amount of acid is
added to a liter of blood, the pH decrease is only from 7.4 to 7.3, and that is because blood contains a
buffer, a chemical system that resists changes in pH.

The pH Scale

Let's recall what pH is. The pH scale is a logarithmic scale that measures the amount of hydrogen ion
concentration or proton concentration in a solution. The greater the hydrogen ion concentration, the
lower the pH, and the more acidic the solution is. But each pH difference accounts not just for a single
change in the hydrogen and iron concentration, but at 10 times change in the hydrogen ion
concentration. So for example, a solution with a pH of 6 is actually 10 times more acidic than a solution
with a pH of 7. And a solution with a pH of five is a hundred times more acidic than a solution with a pH
of seven, like pure water. So

What do buffers do?

Buffers essentially act like sponges. They absorb hydrogen ions when there's too much of them, uh,
when a solution becomes more acidic, and they release them when there's too little or when the
solution becomes more basic.

What do acids do?

Remember that acids are substances that increase the hydrogen ion concentration when in solution. In
solution, they will dissociate into hydrogen ions or protons and their conjugate base. Now, strong acids
like this hydrochloric acid here will dissociate or ionize fully in water, so that all possible hydrogen ions or
protons are released into the solution. Weak acids, on the other hand, do not dissociate fully and only
some of the hydrogen ions are released into the solution.

So back to buffers.

A buffer is essentially a solution of a weak acid in its conjugate base or the opposite, a weak base and its
conjugate acid. In a good buffer solution, we want the amounts of the weak acid and the conjugate base
to be equal. And so, well, then what happens if we add a strong acid to a buffer solution?