Q. 16.34 - An Introduction to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry

Question

What is the name of the class of enzymes that would catalyze each of the following reactions?

a. addition of water to a double bond

b. removing hydrogen atoms

c. splitting peptide bonds in proteins

d. converting a tertiary alcohol to a secondary alcohol

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

(part a) Water addition to a double bond - The lyases

(Part b) Dehydrogenase removes hydrogen atoms.

(Part c) Hydrolase is a protein that splits peptide bonds.

(Part d) Isomerase converts a tertiary alcohol to a secondary alcohol.

Step 1: Introduction(Part a)

• Enzymes are proteins that reduce the activation energy of a reaction and catalyse the reaction process.
• An international committee established a method for naming enzymes based on their function.
• Each enzyme's name concludes with the suffix -ase. The older enzymes pepsin, trypsin, and renin are exceptions.

Step 2: Given information (Part a)

Among the various enzyme categories are:

• - Hydrolase enzymes (carryout hydrolysis reactions, eg: protease, lipase, nuclease, phosphatases)
• The transterases (transter a group between 2 compounds, eg: kinases, transaminases
• The oxidoreductases (oxidation-reduction reaction, eg: oxidases, reductases, dehydrogenases)
•  The lyases (add or remove groups involving double bonds, but does not include hydrolysis, eg: carboxylases, deaminases)
• Ligases are protein-binding enzymes (connect two molecules by using ATP, eg: synthetases)
• Isomerases (rearrange atoms in a molecule, eg: Isomerases, epimerases)

Step 3: Explanation (Part a ,part b, Part c, Part d)

(a) Water addition to a double bond - The lyases

(b) Dehydrogenase removes hydrogen atoms.

(c) Hydrolase is a protein that splits peptide bonds.

(d) Isomerase converts a tertiary alcohol to a secondary alcohol.