Keywords- Chemical reaction , reactants , products , activation energy ,

catalyst , enzymes , active sites

UNIT 1 CHEMISTRY IN BIOLOGY

LESSON 2 CHEMICAL REACTIONS
Chemical reaction
• A Chemical Reaction is a process that occurs when two or more
molecules interact to form a new product(s).
• Compounds that interact to produce new compounds are called
reactants whereas the newly formed compounds are called products.
• In a chemical reaction, a chemical change must occur which is
generally observed with physical changes like precipitation, heat
production, colour change etc.
• A reaction can take place between two atoms or ions or molecules,
and they form a new bond and no atom is destroyed or created but a
new product is formed from reactants.
• The rate of reaction depends on and is affected by factors like
pressure, temperature, the concentration of reactants.
Chemical change
• A chemical change is a change of
materials into another, new materials with
different properties and one or more than
one new substances are formed.
• It results when a substance combines with
another to form a new substance
(synthesis or either decomposes to form
more substances).
• The oxidation reaction is a chemical
change example that causes a chemical
reaction.
Reactants and products
• The substance(s) to the left of the arrow in a
chemical equation are called reactants.
• A reactant is a substance that is present at the
start of a chemical reaction.
The substance(s) to the right of the arrow are
called products.
• A product is a substance that is present at the
end of a chemical reaction.
Chemical equations

• Chemical equations are symbolic

representations of chemical reactions in
which the reactants and the products are
expressed in terms of their respective
chemical formulae.
 • In a balanced equation, the same number of
Balanced equations atoms of a given element appear on each side of
the arrow.
• Balancing chemical equations involves the
addition of coefficients to the reactants and
products.
• This is important because a chemical equation
must obey the law of conservation of mass and
the law of constant proportions, i.e. the same
number of atoms of each element must exist on
the reactant side and the product side of the
equation.
Balancing chemical equations
• The unbalanced chemical equation is
C6H12O6 + O2 → CO2 + H2O

• C6H12O6 + O2 → CO2 +
H2O becomes: C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O
Energy of reactions
• The minimum amount of
energy for reactants to form
products in a chemical reaction
is called the activation energy.
• For example : A candle will not
burn until you light its wick.
• The flame provides the
activation energy for the
reaction that occurs between
the substances in the candle
wick and the oxygen in the air.
Endothermic and
exothermic
reactions
• Endothermic reactions are chemical
reactions in which the reactants absorb
heat energy from the surroundings to
form products.
• An exothermic reaction is a reaction in
which energy is released in the form of
light or heat.
• The energy is absorbed from the
surrounding into the reaction.
Energy change in chemical reactions

•When energy is released in an

exothermic reaction, the temperature of
the reaction mixture increases.
•When energy is absorbed in an
endothermic reaction, the temperature
decreases.
•You can monitor changes in temperature
by placing a thermometer in the reaction
mixture.
Catalyst

• A catalyst is used to speed up or increase the rate of the reaction.

However, if we go to a deeper level, catalysts are used to break or rebuild
the chemical bonds between the atoms which are present in the molecules
of different elements or compounds.
• In essence, catalysts encourage molecules to react and make the whole
reaction process easier and more efficient.
• Some of the important characteristic features of catalysts are given below:
• A catalyst does not initiate a chemical reaction.
• A catalyst is not consumed in the reaction.
• Catalysts tend to react with reactants to form intermediates and, at the
same time, facilitate the production of the final reaction product. After the
whole process, a catalyst can regenerate.
• A catalyst can be either in solid, liquid or gaseous forms.
Enzymes
• Enzymes are proteins that help speed up
metabolism, or the chemical reactions in our
bodies.
• Enzymes brings the activation energy down of
biochemical reactions.
• They build some substances and break others
down. All living things have enzymes.
• Our bodies naturally produce enzymes.
• Like all catalysts enzyme is not used up by the
chemical reaction .
• Once enzyme has participated in a chemical
reaction, the enzyme can be used again.
Active sites and substrates

• Enzymes have an active site to which specific

substrates bind.
• Enzymes are typically named after the molecules they
react with (called the substrate) and end with the
suffix ‘-ase’
• For example, lipids are broken down by the enzyme
lipase
•
Active Site
• The active site is the region on the surface of the
enzyme which binds to the substrate molecule
• The active site and the substrate complement each
other in terms of both shape and chemical properties
• Hence only a specific substrate is capable of binding to
a particular enzyme’s active site.
• Self reading paragraph above figure 18 on page 17.
Factors affecting
enzyme activity
• Temperature, pH and substrate concentration affect the rate of
activity of enzymes.
• Temperature
• Low temperatures result in insufficient thermal energy for the
activation of an enzyme-catalysed reaction to proceed
• Increasing the temperature will increase the speed and motion of
both enzyme and substrate, resulting in higher enzyme activity
• This is because a higher kinetic energy will result in more frequent
collisions between the enzymes and substrates
• At an optimal temperature (may vary for different enzymes), the
rate of enzyme activity will be at its peak
• Higher temperatures will cause enzyme stability to decrease, as
the thermal energy disrupts the enzyme’s hydrogen bonds
• This causes the enzyme (particularly the active site) to lose its
shape, resulting in the loss of activity (denaturation)
• pH
• Changing the pH will alter the charge
of the enzyme, which in turn will alter
protein solubility and overall shape
• Changing the shape or charge of the
active site will diminish its ability to
bind the substrate, abrogating enzyme
function
• Enzymes have an optimal pH (may
differ between enzymes) and moving
outside this range diminishes enzyme
activity
• Substrate Concentration
• Increasing substrate concentration will
increase the activity of a corresponding
enzyme
• More substrates mean there is an increased
chance of enzyme and substrate colliding
and reacting within a given period
• After a certain point, the rate of activity will
cease to rise regardless of any further
increases in substrate levels
• This is because the environment is
saturated with substrate and all enzymes
are bound and reacting (Vmax)