Question

List reasons/strategies enzymes have for lowering the activation barrier.

Answer 1

Solution:-

An enzyme can act in several ways to lower Ea. It does this by forming an enzyme-substrate (ES) complex.

1. The enzyme may hold the substrates in such a way as to distort the substrate bonds closer to their form in the transition state. This reduces the amount of energy needed to complete the transition.

2. The enzyme may create a charge distributionopposite to that of the transition state. This lowers the energy of the transition state and decreases the activation energy.

3. The enzyme may reduce the reaction entropy ΔS‡ by bringing substrates together in the correct orientation to react.

4. The enzyme may provide a completely different chemical pathway for the reaction. It may form new bonds in the ES complex that would be difficult to form without the enzyme.