The Biochemistry of Inorganic Polyphosphates
Chapter One
THE CHEMICAL
STRUCTURES AND
PROPERTIES OF
CONDENSED INORGANIC
PHOSPHATES
For a proper understanding of the processes which take place in living organisms, a precise
knowledge of the chemical structures of the compounds that participate in these processes
is required. It is therefore deemed essential to present, even if only briefly, an account of
present-day ideas of the chemical structures of condensed phosphates, hitherto often known
by the long-obsolete terms 'metaphosphates' and 'hexametaphosphates'.
1.1 The Structures of Condensed Phosphates
The first mention of condensed inorganic phosphates dates back to 1816, when Berzelius
showed that the vitreous product formed by the ignition of orthophosphoric acid was able
to precipitate proteins (Van Wazer, 1958). Graham (1833) described a vitreous phosphate
which he obtained by fusion of Na[H.sub.2]P[O.sub.4]. Believing that he had isolated a pure compound
with the formula NaP[O.sub.3], Graham named this as a 'metaphosphate'. Shortly af ... read full excerpt from The Biochemistry of Inorganic Polyphosphates ebook
