Researchers discuss quantum electron tunneling

Quantum electron tunneling in enzymes moved into wider online discussion on June 1 after social-media posts pointed to recent quantum-biology papers and conference abstracts. The posts tied tunneling and quantum coherence to longstanding questions about how some enzymes move charge and accelerate reactions under mild biological conditions. Publicly accessible source material shows that the underlying science is not new, but that researchers are continuing to frame enzyme catalysis and biological electron transfer in explicitly quantum terms. The latest wave of discussion appears to draw on a mix of older peer-reviewed work, a 2023 preprint later published in 2024, and conference material posted in 2026. ### What are researchers actually claiming when they talk about electron tunneling in enzymes? Electron tunneling refers to electrons crossing an energy barrier that would be difficult to overcome in a purely classical picture, according to an ACS Omega review published in 2023. That review said electrons can tunnel between cofactor molecules in biological electron-transport chains over distances of about 20 angstroms on the millisecond timescale of enzymatic turnover. A 2019 Nature Communications paper described biological electron transfer as central to processes including photosynthesis, cellular respiration, DNA repair and cell death, and reported a method for optical detection of electron tunneling involving cytochrome c in live cells. (x.com) A February 27, 2026 conference abstract by Maria Crina Isac on Sciforum said “enzyme catalysis can involve proton or electron tunneling” and grouped tunneling with coherence and entanglement as candidate quantum effects in living systems. That abstract was broad rather than enzyme-specific, but it matches the language now circulating in posts about quantum biology. ### Which recent study is most concrete on enzyme reactions? A bioRxiv preprint posted on July 18, 2023 by Takeshi Yasuda and co-authors said hydrogen-isotope kinetic tests showed quantum tunneling in enzymatic hydrolysis reactions in vitro. (pubs.acs.org) The authors wrote that tunneling was involved in deacetylation, DNA cleavage and protein cleavage reactions, and the bioRxiv record says the work was later published in PLOS ONE with DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0309689. (sciforum.net) The paper is notable because it ties the tunneling claim to a measurable experimental signature: kinetic isotope effects and their temperature dependence. That does not, by itself, establish that all fast enzyme catalysis is driven by tunneling, but it gives the current discussion a specific experimental anchor. ### Where does “coherence” fit into this conversation? Quantum coherence usually refers to phase relationships that let quantum states evolve in a correlated way for a finite time, and it has been discussed more often in photosynthesis than in enzyme catalysis, according to the Sciforum abstract and other review-style material surfaced in current searches. (biorxiv.org) The 2026 abstract said photosynthetic energy transfer occurs through quantum coherence in pigment-protein complexes, while enzyme catalysis can involve proton or electron tunneling. That distinction matters because current social posts often mention tunneling and coherence together. The accessible source trail supports that pairing at the level of quantum-biology discussion, but the strongest directly cited enzyme evidence in the material reviewed here is for tunneling, not for a new enzyme-specific demonstration of long-lived coherence published in the last five weeks. ### Did new May 2026 abstracts change the evidence base? (sciforum.net) May 30, 2026 was the last-updated date shown on the American Chemical Society’s Spring 2026 abstracts page for biochemical technology, and Sciforum is hosting multiple 2026 conference programs that include catalysis and quantum-biology themes. But the publicly surfaced materials reviewed here did not reveal a single new May 2026 abstract definitively showing enzyme rate enhancement from electron tunneling and coherence together. June 1 social discussion therefore appears to be amplifying an existing body of work rather than reacting to one clearly identifiable breakthrough paper released that day. The named sources available in public search results are a 2019 Nature Communications paper on biological electron tunneling, a 2023 ACS Omega review, the Yasuda preprint later published in PLOS ONE, and a February 2026 conference abstract summarizing quantum-biology mechanisms. (callforabstracts.acs.org) ### What should readers watch next? Sciforum’s 2026 conference pages and the American Chemical Society’s meeting abstract archives are the most visible places to watch for new abstracts that make enzyme-specific tunneling claims. BioRxiv and journal sites such as PLOS ONE and Nature Communications remain the clearest public record for full papers tied to the current discussion. (sciforum.net) (nature.com)