Important aspects of Radicals
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Re: Important aspects of Radicals
I think it is very important to know that radicals are molecules with an unpaired electron and that they are highly reactive, can only exist for a short time, and can damage DNA because it can react with it.
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Re: Important aspects of Radicals
I think the most important thing to know about radicals is that they have an odd number of valence electrons which means there is an unpaired electron, making them much more reactive because they want an electron.
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Re: Important aspects of Radicals
An most important aspect of radicals are that they have an odd number of electrons. If you add up the electrons in a molecule and it is odd, that molecule is a radical. Another important aspect is that they are highly reactive. These two should be the only aspects we need to know so far.
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Re: Important aspects of Radicals
They have an unpaired electron that is unbalanced. That single electron really wants to be in a pair, to do so it has a tendency to bond with other molecules (making it highly reactive). Radicals are dangerous because in our body they can bind to DNA, RNA, other important biological molecules and alter their shape--thus impeding function. Antioxidants help prevent this from happening by binding to radicals before they reach important biological molecules.
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Re: Important aspects of Radicals
Another thing that is important to at-least be familiar with is that the formation of radicals sometimes involves the breaking of covalent bonds, and that process can requires significant amounts of energy.
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Re: Important aspects of Radicals
The most important thing to know about radicals is that they have an unpaired valence electron. This causes them to be very reactive.
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