Enzymes

Mr Potter
 Lesson Objectives
Enzyme unit overview
What are they?
How they work
Activation energy
What controls their activity
Rates of reaction
Substrate/enzyme concentrations
Temperature, pH
Enzyme inhibitors
Practical to demonstrate Catalase activity in different tissue
samples
 Previous related topics covered?
Enzyme controlled reactions?
Proteins?
Lipase, protease, pectinase, amylase etc?
Lock & Key molecular structures?
 By the end of the unit you should
be able to:-
Explain enzymes as Globular Proteins which act
as catalysts
Explain their catalytic action in terms of lowering
activation energy
Describe examples of enzyme-catalysed
reactions
Discuss factors affecting reaction rates and
inhibition
Describe how to investigate these effects
experimentally
 Enzymes:-
Are defined as a BIOLOGICAL catalyst i.e. something that speeds up a
reaction. Up to 1012 fold
Usually end in ase.
Discovered in 1900 in yeasts. Some 40,000 in human cells
Control almost every metabolic reaction in living organisms
Are globular proteins coiled into a very precise 3-dimentional shape with
hydrophilic side chains making them soluble
Possess an active site such as a cleft in the molecule onto which other
substrate molecules can bind to form an enzyme-substrate complex
Once the substrate has been either synthesised or split, enzymes can be re-
used.
Do not create reactions
Widely used in industrial cleaning
Often require co-factors (co-enzymes) to function metal ions, or vitamin
derivatives
Amylase + starch substrate
 How do enzymes work?
Reaction Mechanism

In any chemical reaction a substrate is

converted into a product.

In an enzyme catalysed reaction the substrate

first binds to the active site of the enzyme to
form the enzyme-substrate complex
 Molecule Geometry
Substrate molecule fits into the enzyme
like a lock & key.
Enzyme shape distorts or it changes other
factors to make the reaction happen
 Activation Energy

In a natural reaction the product has a lower

energy than the substrate so equilibrium will take
it in the direction of the product.
However there is an energy barrier to be
overcome
Enzymes lower the activation energy required to
bring about a reaction.
EG catalase reduces the activation energy for
the reduction of H202 86-fold
 Reaction rate factors
Substrate
concentration
Initially rate increases
with substrate conc.
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