Directional Character of Proton Transfer in Enzyme Catalysis

Abstract

Hydrogen bonding can facilitate proton transfer in certain directions and retard proton transfer in certain other directions. By assuming that directed proton transfer along strategically oriented hydrogen bonds in the enzyme-substrate complex plays an important role in determining the efficiency and specificity of the enzyme, we present a unified interpretation for the reported observations on carbonic anhydrase and alpha-chymotrypsin.