denaturation

[ dee-ney-chuh-rey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act or process of rendering an alcohol unfit for drinking by adding an unwholesome substance that does not alter its usefulness for other purposes:

   New legislation made the denaturation of industrial alcohol compulsory.

2. Biochemistry. the act or process of altering the original state of a protein or the like through chemical or physical means:

   Acid and heat both cause a denaturation of protein, breaking bonds in the protein’s secondary and tertiary structure.

3. the act or process of depriving something of its natural character or properties:

   Totalitarianism emerges from the denaturation of religion and politics.

Word History and Origins

Origin of denaturation¹

denatur(e) ( def ) + -ation ( def )

Example Sentences

"Thermal ocular injury from a laser can occur with exposures at any wavelength when the temperature change of the retina is greater than 10°C, resulting in the denaturation of proteins. With thermal damage, the lesion size is typically less than the size of the beam diameter, and the resultant scotomas are permanent." said Ostrin.

From Science Daily

The study, published on Wednesday in Nature, finds that even when the surrounding air is significantly cooler than the leaves themselves, some 0.01 percent of individual leaves can reach a critical temperature at which the enzymes required for photosynthesis go through a process called denaturation—the same type of irreversible change that egg proteins in cake batter undergo in the oven.

From Scientific American

This process, which is called denaturation, will cripple and often kill the microbe because its proteins will unfold and stick together.

From Salon

Protein denaturation actually works faster when a small amount of water is mixed with the alcohol.

From Salon

‘They’ve done some very nice work here, they’ve shown their active compound can both prevent denaturation and dissolve amyloid-type fibrils.’

From Scientific American