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Enzymes (/ ˈ ɛ n z aɪ m z /) are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions.The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products.
Regioselectivity and diastereoselectivity: Due to their complex three-dimensional structure, enzymes may distinguish between functional groups which are chemically situated in different regions of the substrate molecule. Enantioselectivity: Since almost all enzymes are made from L-amino acids, enzymes are chiral catalysts. As a consequence, any ...
Enzyme catalysis is the increase in the rate of a process by an "enzyme", a biological molecule. Most enzymes are proteins, and most such processes are chemical reactions. Within the enzyme, generally catalysis occurs at a localized site, called the active site.
An illustrative example is the effect of catalysts to speed the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen: . 2 H 2 O 2 → 2 H 2 O + O 2. This reaction proceeds because the reaction products are more stable than the starting compound, but this decomposition is so slow that hydrogen peroxide solutions are commercially available.
The reactants, products, and intermediates of an enzymatic reaction are known as metabolites, which are modified by a sequence of chemical reactions catalyzed by enzymes. [1]: 26 In most cases of a metabolic pathway, the product of one enzyme acts as the substrate for the next. However, side products are considered waste and removed from the cell.
A catalyst is able to reduce the activation energy by forming a transition state in a more favorable manner. Catalysts, by nature, create a more "comfortable" fit for the substrate of a reaction to progress to a transition state. This is possible due to a release of energy that occurs when the substrate binds to the active site of a catalyst ...
The katal (symbol: kat) is that catalytic activity that will raise the rate of conversion by one mole per second in a specified assay system. [1] It is a unit of the International System of Units (SI) [1] used for quantifying the catalytic activity of enzymes (that is, measuring the enzymatic activity level in enzyme catalysis) and other catalysts.
Like many protein enzymes, metal binding is also critical to the function of many ribozymes. [9] Often these interactions use both the phosphate backbone and the base of the nucleotide, causing drastic conformational changes. [10] There are two mechanism classes for the cleavage of a phosphodiester backbone in the presence of metal.