The Rate of Hydrolysis of Sucrose

The Rate of Hydrolysis of Sucrose

Hypothesis - The digestion of sucrose into glucose and fructose is

carried out by the presence of the enzyme Sucrase. The activity of the

enzyme will be greatest at its optimum temperature since at this

temperature the enzyme's tertiary structure will be correct to allow

the formation of the substrate-enzyme complex quickly and efficiently.

This should be at 37°C (body temperature), which is the temperature of

the ileum where Sucrase is secreted and naturally functions.

The first thing to say about enzymes is that they are proteins and

they are found in all types of organisms from humans to viruses. They

function in the body as catalysts. In other words they speed up the

rate of chemical reactions in the body. Enzymes actually accelerate

chemical reactions by a factor of about 1 million. Enzymes are organic

catalysts. Without enzymes the metabolism of an organism would be too

slow for the organism to survive. The word enzyme actually means "in

yeast" as they were first discovered in these micro-organisms. Enzymes

are found inside cells (intracellular) and outside cells (extra

cellular). Intracellular enzymes are for example, those that control

metabolism while extra cellular enzymes are for example, gut digestive

juices and the enzymes secreted by bacteria, which digest their food

outside the body then reabsorb the products. Enzymes work on

particular organic chemicals, these are called substrates. So in

effect food is the substrate of digestive enzymes. Each enzyme is

specific to one or a group of particular substrates. The majority of

the reactions that occur in living organisms are enzyme-controlled.

Without enzymes toxins would soon build up and the supply of

respiratory substrate would decrease. Enzymes are proteins and thus

have a specific shape. They are therefore specific in the reactions

that they catalyse - one enzyme will react with molecules of one

substrate. The site of the reaction occurs in an area on the surface

of the protein called the active site. Since the active site for all

molecules of one enzyme will be made up of the same arrangement of

amino acids, it has a highly specific shape. Generally, there is only

one active site on each enzyme molecule and only one type of substrate

molecule will fit into it. Lock and key hypothesis description of the

specificity of t...

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... well as this the final colour was defined.

Results : my results from then on were much more reliable and the

average was easier to plot on a graph drawing my expected curve. The

first colour change was a loss of the base pink colour and the final

colour change is a measurable blue.

Throughout all these preliminary experiments and the final one all

laboratory safety precautions will be observed. To check the

reliability of my results I will take a mean average of all 3

experiments I finally did. Using the mean of all the experiments I

then will work out the standard deviation of the primary colour change

and the final colour change.

On the graphs the X axis is numbered 1-6, this corresponds to the

Sucrase Concentration 0.0%-2.5%.

Below is the preliminary experiment graph for primary colour change at

0-5% solution.

The line slopes down as the reaction time decreases in relation to the

concentration. This was the graph of the preliminary experiment after

making the changes due to evidence from preliminary experiment 1 and

2.

Prediction: I predict that the higher the concentration the faster the

reaction due to induced fit and lock and key hypothesis.