K+/H3O2- and H+/ATP complexes are electrochemical foundation of the cell

ATP is a base. That is well known. Theories about the role of ATP in the cell have previously never assigned any evolutionary purpose to this ability of ATP to adsorb protons. This article presents a new electrochemical model of the cell, where the triphosphate groups proton-adsorbing properties are a central protagonist. The tendency for water to form a gel-phase at contact zones has now been well documented. This gel, chemically a lattice of hydrated hydroxide, (H3O2-)n, excludes protons that combine with water into hydronium, H3O+, and form a “cloud” next to the gel. These protons are bound electrostatically, and can be substituted electrostatically by an ion with a higher affinity for the gel. Potassium being further down in the periodic table has a higher attractive force for negative charge, and will tend to substitute H+, explaining why cells spontaneously adsorb potassium. The cell has evolved to physically separate water into its ionic constituents, by storing the hydroxide in the gel, and moving the excluded proton onto ATP. This machinery of the cell is analogous to an acid-base battery. The cell can discharge this energy by splitting ATP, causing conformational changes in the proteins that desorb hydroxide from the gel, the chemical neutralization of this hydroxide in the reaction 4 OH- --> O2 + 2 H2O + 4 e-, electrical current that generates electrical work, and the neutralization of the electrons onto the protons desorbed from ADP, 4 e- + 4 H+ + O2 → 2 H2O