Peptide Bond Dissociation Temperaure

[rpayne88]

This is more of a biochem question, but since there is not biochem forum, I'll ask it here.

How much heat is required to break a peptide bond (not just denature the protein) in the absence of any catalysts?

 

[BvU]

Hello RP,

Not much by chemical standards: I found peptide bond dissociation energies are 8-10 kJ/mol.
At room temperature, RT is already about 2.5 kJ/mol.
Check out the Arrhenius equation

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Peptide bonds are quite resistant to hydrolysis under normal conditions and require fairly high temperatures (~ 250^oC) or harsh conditions for hydrolysis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteolysis#Non-enzymatic_proteolysis