Chemistry and the Kuhne

Any list of the seven wonders of biology would have to include enzyme catalysis. Enzymes can convert a substrate into product 1010–1015 times faster than the rate of the uncatalyzed reaction. This means that enzymes can accomplish in one second what would take 300–30 000 000 years in their absence1. Despite much effort to discover the basis for the astounding catalytic efficiency of enzymes, this issue is still hotly debated and far from being resolved2. According to the conventional view of enzyme catalysis, the enzyme supplies all the functional groups that are needed to convert a substrate into a product. In a growing number of cases, however, it is evident that the substrate provides one or more functional groups that actively participate in th