Medium Effects in Biologically Related Catalysis

Abstract Enzymes catalyze chemical reaction in aqueous media, but their active sites significantly differ in properties from water. In this chapter, the work on selected chemical reactions with important biological roles is reviewed to assess our current understanding of the effect of the environment that surrounds the reactive species. In particular, simple medium effects such as the ones provided by organic solvents, ionic liquids, and simple micelles are focused on. The findings that led to the computational design of enzymes that catalyze the Kemp elimination, a prototypical proton transfer reaction that has fascinated researchers for more than a century, are discussed.