Electron Transport Chain

Summary of the Krebs Cycle

Two carbon atoms enter the cycle and two
carbon atoms are lost as carbon dioxide
One molecule of ATP is produced
Four pairs of hydrogen atoms are
removed, 3 NAD+ molecules are reduced
to NADH and 1 FAD molecule is reduced
to FADH2
 ALL the molecules of reduced electron
carriers are reoxidised in the electron
transport chain. This process also
liberates a large amount of energy which
can be used to make ATP
 Electron Transport Chain
This is also known as oxidative phosphorylation
and is the process by which ATP is formed when
electrons are transferred from NADH or FADH2
to oxygen by a series of electron carriers.
This is a major source of ATP in organisms as
the oxidation of each NADH molecule produces
3 molecules ATP and the oxidation of each
FADH2 produces 2 molecules of ATP
 How it works
Each hydrogen atom splits into a proton (H+) and an
electron(e-).
The inner mitochondial membrane contains numerous
electron carriers.
The transfer of electrons to oxygen through these
carriers leads to protons being pumped out of the matrix
into the intermembrane space.
As electrons flow through the ETC energy is released.
This energy can be used to transfer protons across the
mitochondrial membrane.
As the concentration of H+ protons increase outside the
membrane it creates a pH gradient and an electrical
potential across it.
 The protons flow back into the matrix
across the membrane through a large
enzyme called ATP synthase. This
enzyme uses this energy to join ADP and
P to make ATP
 Electrons are transferred to oxygen
through a series of protein complexes
including coenzyme Q. Oxygen acts as
the final electron acceptor and is reduced
to form water as shown
O2 + 4H+ + 4e- 2H2O

The final product of the ETC is then water

 Yield of ATP
We can work out how much ATP is
produced during respiration
 Glycolysis 2 x ATP
Glycolysis 2 x NADH 6 x ATP
Link reaction 2 x NADH 6 x ATP
Krebs Cycle 2 x ATP
Krebs 2 x FADH2 4 x ATP
Krebs 6 x NADH 18 x ATP
 The complete oxidation of glucose under
lab conditions is 2870kJ mol-1. the total
free energy stored in 36 ATP is 1100kJ so
the efficiency of ATP formation from
glucose is

(1100 2870) x 100 = 38%