In: Chemistry
Explain how the term "transition state stabilization" applies to the mechanism of chymotrypsin.
Transition state is unstable arrangement of atoms in which chemical bonds are in process of forming/breaking and come and go quickly & happens at peak of activation energy. the substrate first binds weakly, then the enzyme changes conformation increasing the affinity to the transition state and stabilizing it, so reducing the activation energy to reach it.
a nucleophile becomes covalently attached to a substrate in a transition state with an acyl-enzyme. The protease cleaves proteins by a hydrolysis reaction. Histidine deprotonates the water to form a hyrdoxy group. This hydroxy group attaches to carbon from the carboxy side and destabilizes the acyl intermediate and the bond is broken. An incoming water molecule is deprotonated by acid-base catalysis, generating a strongly nucleophilic hydroxide ion. Attack of this hydroxide ion on the ester linkage of the acylenzyme generates a tetrahedral intermediate. and the carboxylic acid is released and the enzyme is reformed to catalyze the next reaction with the original active site