Ncert Exercises & Solutions

14.17: What are enzymes?

Enzymes are proteins that catalyse biological reactions.

They are very specific in nature and catalyse only a particular reaction for a particular substrate.

Enzymes are usually named after the particular substrate or class of substrate and some times after the particular reaction.

For example, the enzyme used to catalyse the hydrolysis of maltose into glucose is named as maltase.

$C_{2} H_{2} O_{11} \overset{M a l t a s e}{\to} 2 C_{6} H_{12} O_{6}$
$M a l t o s e G u l \cos e$

Again, the enzymes used to catalyse the oxidation of one substrate with

the simultaneous reduction of another substrate are named as oxidoreductase enzymes.

The name of an enzyme ends with ‘− ase’.