Title: enzymatic degradation
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - enzymatic degradation
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.13905
Status: current

Definition
Degradation caused by the catalytic action of enzymes.

Notes
1) Sometimes called enzymic degradation.
2) Degradation caused by enzymes can be observed under biotic or abiotic conditions but only degradation due to cell bioactivity can be called biodegradation, otherwise enzymatic degradation is to be used, especially in the case of in vitro abiotic conditions.

Related Terms
- Degradation: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13890
- bioactivity: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13873
- biotic: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13884

Source
- PAC, 2012, 84, 377. 'Terminology for biorelated polymers and applications (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 390 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-10-12-04)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13905/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13905/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13905/xml

Citation: Citation: 'enzymatic degradation' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.13905
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Accessed: 2026-07-12T20:09:32+00:00