Specificity, enzymatic reaction Selectivity

To try to circumvent this limitation, Jestin et al. [68] have designed and tested a selection scheme involving two chemically independent reactions the reaction catalyzed by the enzyme and a chemical reaction leading to phage labeling by the substrate or product of the enzymatic reaction. Selection of labeled phages with a product-specific binder (e.g. a monoclonal antibody) should allow recovery of the product-labeled phages only (Fig. 5.15). 

Attempts to realize enzymatic reactions have been reported over the past four decades in the context of host-guest chemistry, presently a well-established research field. In the field of CPOs, much attention has been paid to identical research objectives. The host-guest chemistry based on CPOs holds a special position, because specific selectivity and reactivity will be achieved using the coordination-bond-forming reactions between the substrate and the incorporated metals in the porphyrins, as well as the redox reaction associated with the porphyrin s rr-electron system. 

Monitoring enzyme catalyzed reactions by voltammetry and amperometry is an extremely active area of bioelectrochemical interest. Whereas liquid chromatography provides selectivity, the use of enzymes to generate electroactive products provides specificity to electroanalytical techniques. In essence, enzymes are used as a derivatiz-ing agent to convert a nonelectroactive species into an electroactive species. Alternatively, electrochemistry has been used as a sensitive method to follow enzymatic reactions and to determine enzyme activity. Enzyme-linked immunoassays with electrochemical detection have been reported to provide even greater specificity and sensitivity than other enzyme linked electrochemical techniques. 

The demand for monitoring common metabolites of diagnostic utility such as glucose, urea and creatinine continue to provide the impetus for a staggering research effort towards more perfect enzyme electrodes. The inherent specificity of an enzyme for a given substrate, coupled with the ability to electrochemically detect many of the products of enzymatic reactions initiated the search for molecule-selective electrodes. 

FIA has also found wide application in pharmaceutical analysis.214,215 Direct UV detection of active ingredients is the most popular pharmaceutical analysis application of FIA. For single component analysis of samples with little matrix interference such as dissolution and content uniformity of conventional dosage forms, many pharmaceutical chemists simply replace a column with suitable tubing between the injector and the detector to run FIA on standard HPLC instrumentation. When direct UV detection offers inadequate selectivity, simple online reaction schemes with more specific reagents including chemical, photochemical, and enzymatic reactions of derivatization are applied for flow injection determination of pharmaceuticals.216... 

Selectivity is an intrinsic properly of enzymatic catalysis. [3] Following the nomenclature proposed by Cleland [24, 25], the pseudo second-order rate constant for the reaction of a substrate with an enzyme, kml/KM, is known as the specificity constant, ksp. [26] To express the relative rates of competing enzymatic reactions, involving any type of substrates, the ratio of the specificity constants appears to be the parameter of choice [3]. Since the authoritative proposition by Sih and coworkers [27], the ratio of specificity constants for the catalytic conversion of enantiomeric substrates, R and S, is commonly known as the enantiomeric ratio or E -value (Equation 1) ... 

Enzymes can be used in several ways in chromatographic applications to improve selectivity or to enhance the detector response. Applications may involve enzymes with either a broad specificity toward a group of related compounds or a high specificity toward a particular compound. In the field of drug residue analysis, most current applications concern enzymatic reactions taking place in separate reactors incorporated in LC systems before or after the analytical column. Reactors with immobilized enzymes have proven to be suitable in such continuous flow systems. 

In principle, the specificity of an electrode is obtained when a membrane can selectively recognise the species to be measured in a sample solution. Biosensors have be developed in which the measuring electrode can detect a particular compound formed through a biochemical enzymatic reaction. For example, if urease is fixed to a membrane sensitive to the ammonium ion, this membrane will be able to detect urea since urease is an enzyme that will decompose urea to form ammonium ions. However, such electrodes do not presently exist in a commercial form. 

In different species or races, or even breeds developed by deliberate selection, whether they be fish, other animal or plant, the metabolism may assume a special character and rate depending on the specific ensemble of enzymatic reactions. For instance, the three races of anchovy described in this account differ in the ratio between their rates of protein biosynthesis and neutral lipid accumulation (Figure 78, page 225). What is most remarkable is that each of the processes is based on similar biochemical reactions, but the environments are different, as are the responses of the fish to them. 

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze reactions. Thousands of enzymes have been classified and there is no clear limit as to the number that exists in nature or that can be created artificially. Enzymes have one or more catalytic sites that are similar in principle to the active sites on a solid catalyst that are discussed in Chapter 10, but there are major differences in the nature of the sites and in the nature of the reactions they catalyze. Mass transport to the active site of an enzyme is usually done in the liquid phase. Reaction rates in moles per volume per time are several orders of magnitude lower than rates typical of solid-catalyzed gas reactions. Optimal temperatures for enzymatic reactions span the range typical of living organisms, from about 4°C for cold-water fish, to about 40°C for birds and mammals, to over 100°C for thermophilic bacteria. Enzymatic reactions require very specific molecular orientations before they can proceed. As compensation for the lower reaction rates, enzymatic reactions are highly selective. They often require specific stereoisomers as the reactant (termed the substrate in the jargon of biochemistry) and can generate stereospecific products. Enzymes are subject to inhibition and deactivation like other forms of catalysis. 

The choice of an appropriate electrochemical sensor is governed by several requirements (1) the nature of the substrate to be determined (ions or redox species) (2) the shape of the final sensor (microelectrodes) (3) the selectivity, sensitivity, and speed of the measurements and (4) the reliability and stability of the probe. The most frequently used sensors operate under potentiometric or amperometric modes. Amperometric enzyme electrodes, which consume a specific product of the enzymatic reaction, display an expanded linear response... 

Surprisingly, it has been shown that many enzymatic reactions can advantageously be carried out in nonaqueous solutions, that is, in carefully selected organic solvents containing little or no added water, sometimes with dramatic changes in enzyme specificity as a function of solvent polarity [309-312]. 

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