Oxidative phosphorylation is a biochemical mechanism within cellular respiration that couples exergonic electron transfer through membrane-embedded protein complexes to the endergmic synthesis of ATP via chemiosmosis. The process relies on the formation of an electrochemical proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane, where electrons from NADH and FADH₂ generated in glycolysis and the citric acid cycle are sequentially transferred to oxygen as the terminal electron acceptor, forming water. This coupling drives protons down their concentration gradient through ATP synthase (Complex V), converting ADP into ATP without direct enzymatic catalysis by proton motive force rather than substrate-level phosphorylation.
Oxidative phosphorylation is a biochemical mechanism within cellular respiration that couples exergonic electron transfer through membrane-embedded protein complexes to the endergmic synthesis of ATP…