Organic Chemistry 354 Quiz - Answer 2 - December 9, 1997

Dr. Sundin

2. Suggest why the optical activity of an enzyme would change if the pH changed.

Optical Activity is determined by the spatial location of all of the bonds in a molecule. If you change the pH, you change the amount of -NH3+1 and -CO2-1 (salt linkage) which changes the amount of interaction between these two group types. When this intereaction changes, the shape of the molecule changes which makes the optical activity change.

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