Catecholase, Enzymatic Browning and Temperature - Lab Report Example

The rate of enzyme reaction is affected by temperature, substrate concentration, pH, and presence of inhibitors and cofactors. The equilibrium model describes the effect of temperature on enzymes. In this model, enzymes lose activity at high temperatures and low and at low temperatures (Peterson, Daniel, Danson, & Eisenthal, 2007). The main hypothesis is to find out the effect of temperature on the rate of reaction and absorbance of enzyme catechol. To test the hypothesis, a solution of potato extract and deionized water was heated to four different temperatures and the rate of reaction and the absorbance was determined.

It was found out that when the solution of the potato extract and deionized water and catechol was heated at room temperature, the measure of absorbance increased until at 40 °C. The absorbance value then reduced when the solution was heated at 60 °C to 100 °C. In enzymatic reactions, increase in temperature leads to increase in the rate of reaction due to the additional heat that increases random molecular movement. The activation energy of the reaction is thereby affected due to stress in the molecular bonds caused by the movement.

From the findings, absorbance increased from room temperature to 40°C –the optimum temperature. Most enzymes have an optimum temperature between 35 °C and 40 °C. At room temperature, the hydrophobic interactions and the hydrogen bonds were not flexible enough to induce fit that was optimum for catalysis. At 60 °C, the forces are too weak to maintain the enzymes shape against the increased random movement of the atoms in the enzyme. At boiling temperatures the enzyme denatures and does not take part in chemical reactions effectively.

This is in consistent with findings by (Daniel, et al., 2009) The main limitation for this experiment is that there was a delay of 10 seconds in pressing the button on the calorimeter. Therefore the total time used