Enzymes Introduction
Enzymes are very important chemicals which are found in every type of cell. They speed up and control every chemical reaction which takes place inside living things. They are Biological Catalysts.
A catalyst is a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction but does not take part in the reaction itself.
All enzymes are made of protein and they each have a very specific 3 dimensional shape. The shape is different for each enzyme and each enzyme only works on one substance or type of chemical reaction i.e. amylase speeds up the breakdown of starch into the sugar maltose. Amylase will not speed up the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide, another enzyme (in this case catalase is needed). The reason for this is that the substrate fits into a special region of the enzyme called the active site. When in the active site the enzyme can catalyse the reaction. The active site is a special shape and will therefore only allow molecules of a certain shape inside. When the two are joined the structure is called the enzyme-substrate complex.
The power of enzymes has been put to good use in industry. Enzymes are used to make food stuff's. Invertase converts glucose syrup to fructose syrup which is sweeter and is used in slimming foods. Protease enzymes are used to pre-digest some baby foods. Pectinases are used to extract fruit juice. Enzymes are also used in biological detergents and in biosensors.
