Title: enzymes
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - enzymes
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.E02159
Status: current

Definition
Macromolecules, mostly of protein nature, that function as (bio)catalysts by increasing the reaction rates. In general, an enzyme catalyses only one reaction type (reaction specificity) and operates on only one type of substrate (substrate specificity). Substrate molecules are attacked at the same site (regiospecificity) and only one or preferentially one of the enantiomers of chiral substrates or of racemic mixtures is attacked (stereospecificity).

Related Terms
- (bio)catalysts: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/B00652
- chiral: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C01057
- racemic: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/R05026
- substrate: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/S06083

Sources
- PAC, 1992, 64, 143. 'Glossary for chemists of terms used in biotechnology (IUPAC Recommendations 1992)' on page 152 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199264010143)
- PAC, 1993, 65, 2291. 'Nomenclature of kinetic methods of analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 1993)' on page 2295 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199365102291)
- PAC, 1994, 66, 2587. 'Glossary of bioanalytical nomenclature - Part 1: General terminology, body fluids, enzymology, immunology (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 2593 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466122587)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/E02159/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/E02159/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/E02159/xml

Citation: Citation: 'enzymes' 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.E02159
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Accessed: 2026-05-01T07:04:27+00:00