All About Enzyme Catalysis

Catalysis is an important process in modern chemistry. The main purpose of catalysts is to speed up or slow down a reaction time without interfering with the components used in the reaction. 

What is Enzyme Catalysis?

In enzyme catalysis, the catalyst is a biological molecule called an “enzyme” that is used to speed up the reaction process. The majority of enzymes are proteins, and the majority of such reactions are chemical reactions. Catalysis usually takes place at a specific location within the enzyme, known as the active site.

The majority of enzymes are formed of proteins, either in a single chain or in multi-subunit complexes made up of several chains. Non-protein constituents, including metal ions or specialised chemical molecules known as cofactors, are frequently included in enzymes. Many cofactors are vitamins, and their usage in the catalysis of biological processes within metabolism is intimately tied to their action as vitamins.

Characteristics of Enzyme Catalysis

Here are some of the characteristics of enzyme catalysis.

• Enzyme catalysts have high efficiency and can speed up the reaction by 1022 times compared to uncatalysed reactions.
• Enzyme catalysis performs the maximum at a specific temperature called Optimum temperature.
• Enzyme catalysis performs the maximum at a specific pH value called Optimum pH. The value of optimum pH ranges between pH 5 and pH 7.
• The activity of enzyme catalysts is closely regulated.
• The activity of enzyme catalysts is enhanced by co-enzymes, which are also called activators. These co-enzymes help in boosting the speed of the reaction.
• The enzyme activity can be inhibited with the help of inhibitors or poisons. These inhibitors reduce the speed of the reaction processes. 
• Every enzyme catalyst is specific, i.e., every biochemical reaction is controlled by its specific enzymes.

Enzyme Catalytic Mechanism

An enzyme draws substrate to its active site to catalyse the chemical process that produces products and then dissociates the products. The enzyme-substrate complex is the combination of an enzyme and its substrates. The complex is called a tertiary complex when two substrates and one enzyme are involved; it is called a binary complex when one substrate enzyme and one substrate are involved. Hydrophobic and electrostatic forces attract the substrates to the active site, which are referred to as noncovalent bonds since they are physical rather than chemical bonds.

Enzyme Catalysis Examples

Here are a few examples of enzyme catalysis –

• It is used in the production of alcohol from cellulose.
• Phosphate utilisation is increased in agriculture with the help of enzyme catalysis.
• Hydrolase and protease enzymes are important catalysts that are useful in various photographic processes in the photography industry.
• Amylase helps to convert starch into sugar.
• Lactase found in the small intestine of the human body is useful to break lactose and sugar in milk and other products. 
• Sugar cane juice is converted into glucose and fructose using invertase enzymes.

Industrial uses for Enzymes Catalysis

The following are some of the popular uses of enzyme catalysis.

• Calf rennet has been used in the dairy business for a long time. Calf rennets have been phased out in favour of microbial rennets, i.e., acid aspartate proteases, in recent years. They are different from calf rennets in that their reactivity with casein is influenced by Ca2+, temperature, pH, and other factors.
• Adding proteolytic enzymes to the detergents makes it easy to get rid of stains on clothes. It damages peptide bonds, causing the protein to disintegrate. B. licheniformis alkaline serine protease is the most extensively used alkaline serine protease in detergents.
• In the wine industry, pectic enzymes are used to increase yield and improve quality.
• The enzyme glucose isomerase is employed in the industrial conversion of glucose to fructose. The sugar fructose is used to make fructose syrup.

Conclusion

The main function of enzyme catalysts and their processes is to speed up or reduce biochemical reactions and help the efficient functioning of the reaction. This results in the formation of desired products. These catalysts are often used in industrial and commercial reaction processes.