The Impetus
The Impetus for understanding howenzymes function
is inspired by their enormous catalytic efficiency and their
exquisite substrate stereospecificity. With the advent of
the determination of enzyme structure and the application
of physical organic tools to examine the reaction coordinate
for the enzymatic transformation of the substrate,
penetrating insights have been gained as to the number
and magnitude of the kinetic steps in the catalytic cycle,
the chemical nature of intermediates, and the function of
the active site residues contributed by the enzyme. This
noninclusive article describes a small number of enzymecatalyzed
reactions from the viewpoint of protein structure,
reaction kinetics, and probable chemical identity of
intermediates along the reaction pathway. It concludes
with our musings as to the chemical origins of the unusual
catalytic properties of enzymes.
