SRO om enzymer i vaskemidler i Biologi A og Matematik A

English Abstract

This paper examines enzyme kinetics, especially enzyme activity and how it depends on temperature and pH value.

In the first part of the paper that is done by using theory and touching on enzymes’ general properties. Subsequently the theory is proven in an experiment with the enzyme catalase, in which the constituted oxygen per second is seen as the enzyme activity. The two factors, temperature and pH value, are changed independently of each other to find out how they influence that activity. Afterwards the results are processed mathematically and discussed by comparing with the theory. To put in into a biological context the results of the theory and the experiment are used to describe enzymes’ function in detergents.

To sum up the results of the study, it shows that there is a tremendous connection between enzyme activity and temperature as well as pH value, but in different ways: While a pH value far away from an enzyme’s optimum only makes the enzyme incompetent for a while, denaturation as a consequence of too high degrees is an irreversible process, which means that it puts the enzyme out of action forever. Consequently these observations are very important to the detergent industry, and while the industry can take advantage of some properties, genetic engineering is needed to avoid the problems of the enzyme activity’s dependence on temperature and pH value.

1. Indledning og problemformulering

Med deres katalyseevne er enzymer blandt de vigtigste bestanddele af levende celler. Men ikke kun i naturlig sammenhæng er enzymerne velkendte. Også vaskemiddelindustrien har siden 1960’erne for alvor forstået at sætte pris på enzymer, fordi de har vist sig at kunne nedbryde forskellige stoffer (ligesom i fx fordøjelsessystemet), hvilket tensiderne i vaskemidler ikke er i stand til. Men enzymer virker ikke lige godt under forskellige omstændigheder, og det må vaskemiddelproducenter vel også være opmærksomme på, så at nytten af de små, komplekse stoffer ikke – bogstaveligt talt – går i vasken.

Denne problematik har været grundlaget for min problemformulering: Hvordan drager man i vaskemidler nytte af enzymers egenskaber, og på hvilken måde tager man i den sammenhæng hensyn til enzymaktivitetens afhængighed af temperatur og pH? ▪ Jeg vil først redegøre for enzymer generelt, hvordan de virker, og hvad enzymaktiviteten påvirkes af.

▪ Dernæst vil jeg gennem et forsøg med enzymet katalase undersøge enzymkinetikken fra en mere induktiv vinkel, og vil, uden dog at glemme teorien, behandle resultaterne …