"Deuterium oxide (heavy water; D(2)O) has previously been reported to have a protective effect on biomolecules (proteins and nucleic acids), cells and simple multicellular organisms against thermal shock." - Steve Koch

"However, ie needs co be rncncloncd that some general stabilization methods arc transterable, although exact formulations could vary. For example, simple nonrcducing sugars such as sucrose and trehalose arc commonly used scabilizcrs for a "vide range of vaccines." - Steve Koch

(Whoops. looks like the OCR failed on this article) - Steve Koch

"Briefly, D2O is relatively more dense and more viscous than H 20 and has higher melting and boiling points. Differences in other physical properties are not so marked. The deuterium bonds in D2O are stronger than the analogous hydrogen bonds in H 20" - Steve Koch

"'The differential scanning calorimetry technique was applied to allow for a thermodynamic analysis of two types of globular proteins: hen's egg lysozyme with relatively strong internal cohesion (a 'hard' globular protein) and bovine serum albumin, which is known for its conformational adaptability (a 'soft' globular protein). Both proteins were more stable in D2O compared with H2O. The increase of protein stability in D2O was observed due to the fact that D2O is a poorer solvent for nonpolar amino acids than H2O, implying that the hydrophobic effect is larger in D2O" - Steve Koch

This seems to be a really reliable and easy to read review so far. According to these authors, the 2009 terminology is: "solvent isotope effect" = effects of D2O molecule as a whole (basically this is what I was originally thinking of). The other effect, they are calling "Deuterium Isotope Effect (DIE)" "which results from the ability of D2O to replace H with D in biological molecules." - Steve Koch

C-D bonds are apparently 10x stronger than C-H. When placed into H2O, C-D bonds in biomolecules will remain C-D "essentially indefinitely." Whereas, D bonds with other atoms (N, O, ...) will be rapidly exhanged when placed in H2O. - Steve Koch

They say this, but I don't understand the reasoning: "By contrast, short-term effects seen on isolated cells or enzymes arc probably due to solvent isotope effects alone." - Steve Koch

Steve, the link you put up takes me to a university-specific site -- do you have an original link? Or -- an explanation for why C-D bonds are so much stronger than C-H? Everything I know about chemistry tells me its the electron structure that determines bond strength -- not the nuclear composition -- and that, more than anything, is what I'm interested in finding out more on. - Benjamin Tseng

http://www.expert-reviews.com/doi... - Steve Koch

Benjamin, does that link work? I was able to get a very low-quality copy via interlibrary loan. I can send you a copy via email if you need it. - Steve Koch

And I was similarly surprised at how much chemistry is affected by D versus H. One example of how electron structure is affected by nuclear mass is in the optical spectroscopy of the Balmer series of Deuterium versus Hydrogen. Reduced mass of electron is different in H versus D and thus the spectra are different. Not a huge effect, but different nonetheless. - Steve Koch

This is a starting link for H/D optical spectrum difference explanation: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase... - Steve Koch

Steve, sorry for the delinquent response -- have been on a business trip. A friend lent me a copy -- haven't had a chance to read it yet, but am looking forward to it. - Benjamin Tseng

No Problem, Benjamin. In the past few days, I've looked over a lot of papers regarding D2O and effects on proteins (specifically tubulin). So, I probably can point you to better reviews, or you can look at my delicious links here: http://delicious.com/skoch3... - Steve Koch

Also, I gave a little update at group meeting today that has some links at the end: http://www.slideshare.net/skoch3... - Steve Koch