Distribution of tritium between water and exchangeable hydrogen bridges ofbiomolecules

The fractionation factor of tritium between water and biomolecules which ar e structured by hydrogen bridges, is found to be around 2. In addition to a n intramolecular accumulation, an extra-molecular one is found to be about 1.4 in the hydration sheets. During growth of plants (maize), the growth in crement of tritium in non-exchangeable organically bound tritium (OBT) is a bout 2.4 times (140% larger than) the growth increment of hydrogen. The int rinsic growth rate of tritium is about 20 percent larger than that of hydro gen. Tritium bound in water overtakes its kinetic delay in photosynthetic o r metabolic reactions according to the larger mass by the fast established thermodynamic isotope effect of proton-triton exchange.