CHAPTER 6: Reaction-Driven Conformational, Allosteric and Structural Changes

Biological reactions drive conformational, allosteric and structural changes. Here, starting from polymeric conformational motors, different reaction-driven structural changes are identified, separated and quantified in conducting polymers using electrochemical responses from different electrochemical methodologies. For those reactions driving the exchange of anions or cations, the identified reaction-driven structural processes were conformational relaxation–nucleation, swelling, shrinking, conformational compaction, closing potential, and vacuolar or lamellar reversible formation/destruction. New concepts, such as chemical and electrochemical inertia, structural and chemical memory, giant non-stoichiometry, ion-trapping effects and giant hydrogen evolution inhibition from aqueous solutions, are illustrated and described. Solvent and ion influence on reaction-driven structural changes are presented.