Effect of Anesthesia Gases on the Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

ABSTRACT: The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of high importance, among others, because of its role in cellular respiration and in the operation of fuel cells. Recently, a possible relation between respiration and general anesthesia has been found. This work aims to explore whether anesthesia related gases affect the ORR. In ORR, oxygen which is in its triplet ground state is reduced to form products that are all in the singlet state. While this process is "in principle" forbidden because of spin conservation, it is known that if the electrons transferred in the ORR are spin-polarized, the reaction occurs efficiently. Here we show, in electrochemical experiments, that the efficiency of the oxygen reduction is reduced by the presence of general anesthetics in solution. We suggest that a spin-orbit

SUBMITTER: Gupta A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9940288 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature