Artificial enzyme



An artificial enzyme is a synthetic, organic molecules prepared to recreate the active site of an enzyme.

Enzyme catalysis of chemical reactions occur with high selectivity and rate in a small part of the enzyme macromolecule, the active site. There the binding of a substrate close to functional groups in the enzyme causes catalysis by socalled proximity effects. It is therefore possible to create similar catalysts from small molecule mimics of enzyme active sites by combining in a small molecule the ability to bind substrate with catalytic functional groups. Since the artificial enzymes need to bind molecules they are made based on a host-molecule such as a cyclodextrin, crown ethers or calixarene etc.

A number of artificial enzymes have been reported catalysing various reactions with rate increases up to 103; this is nevertheless substantially lower than natural enzymes that typically causes rate increases above 106. One of the pioneers in artificial enzyme reasearch is chemist Ronald Breslow.

Sztuczny enzym