2. Solid/gas catalysis: a tool for understanding how biocatalysts work

2.1 Kinetic and thermodynamic characterization of the reaction: determining the intrinsic parameters of enzymes

Enzymatic reactions in liquid media involve three-component systems: solvent, enzyme and substrate. These three components interact with each other, and it is these interdependent relationships that make catalysis more or less effective, through complex mechanisms that are difficult to identify. In solid/gas technology, the reaction solvent is replaced by a carrier gas which is inert to the catalysis; the enzyme's microenvironment is thus simplified to a system composed solely of substrate and product molecules in the gaseous state. This makes it possible to measure enzyme activity in the absence of any predominant chemical species, as is the case in liquid systems, where...