Molecular Catalysis

• The enzyme-substrate complex is formed when the substrate binds to an active site on the enzyme.
• The catalytic proces is a cycle of at least three elementary steps
• Catalysis is a kinetic phenomenon
• Catalysis stabilizes the transition state. You change the pathway between the start and end
• The goal of catalysis is to lower the activation energy of a reaction. By doing this the reaction path becomes more complicated.
• An intermediate is a species with a finalized end time.
• The transition state cannot be detected and is the top of a mountain in an energy landscape. It is the most difficult state for molecule transition
• A catalyst does not change the thermodynamics of a reaction
• The three elementary steps of a catalytic process are a bonding event, reaction event and seperation event.
• The minima in a energy landscape are stable intermediates, species that we can observe.