An analysis of all the relevant facts and arguments indicates that enzyme catalysis does not involve large contributions from nuclear tunneling

作者：Kamerlin Shina C L; Warshel Arieh^*

来源：Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry, 2010, 23(7): 677-684.

DOI：10.1002/poc.1620

• nuclear quantum mechanical effects
• enzyme catalysis
• kinetic isotope effects
• tunneling
• pre-organization

Enzymatic reactions are crucial toward controlling and performing most life processes, and, as such, understanding how they really work has both fundamental and practical importance. Thus, one of the major current challenges of biophysics involves understanding the origin of the enormous catalytic power of enzymes, an issue that is still not widely understood and remains controversial within the scientific community. Several proposals have been put forth to try to explain the origin of enzyme catalysis, one of which is the idea that enzyme catalysis involves special factors such as nuclear quantum mechanical (NQM) effects, and, in particular, nuclear tunneling. Here, we will discuss both the factors for and against this proposition, and demonstrate that an analysis of all the relevant facts and arguments seems to establish that enzyme catalysis does not involve large contributions from nuclear tunneling.

• 出版日期2010-7