Lecture 17 - Enzyme mechanisms Flashcards
What are 3 types of chemical reactions in metabolism?
- nucleophilic substitutions
- cleavage reactions
- oxidation-reduction reactions
what is a nucleophile?
-electron rich species with a negative charge or lone pair that is able to push its electron onto another atom (attack)
what is an electrophile?
-electron poor species that can be attacked by a nucleophile
are nucleophilic substitutions fast or slow reactions?
-usually slow unless the transition state can be stabilized
nucleophilic substitutions are the basis of _______
most group transfer reactions
What is a cleavage reaction?
- when a covalent bond cleaves
- the two electrons originally in the bond can go with one atom or each atom can take one with it
are cleavage reactions fast or slow?
usually slow unless the carboanion/carbocation can be stabilized
carbanions and carbocations are highly energetically _____
unstable
When an electron pair splits up in a cleavage reaction ____ are produced
radicals
what are radicals?
- high unstable
- causing oxidative damage to cells
- highly toxic
can enzymes stabilize free radical production?
- no
- many enzymes are programmed to destroy and clean up radicals
what are oxidation-reduction reactions?
- redox rxns are central to energy production in metabolism
- electrons are transferred during redox rxns
what is an oxidizing agent?
-gains electrons and is reduced
what is a reducing agent?
-loses electrons and is oxidized
What are the 3 steps of oxidation?
- removal of hydrogen, loss of a hydride ion H-
- addition of oxygen, or
- loss of electron
what happens to the lost electron when a species is oxidized?
-the electron it loses are transferred to an oxidizing agent
how do enzymes catalyze a reaction?
-by lowering its overall barrier
What are 2 ways that enzymes work chemically?
- enzyme must bind substrate
2. enzyme must turnover substrate
what is an enzyme active site?
- location where substrate binds
- where the chemistry is carried out