84 CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE 



who claims that various carbohydrates show distinct dias- 

 tatic (carbohydrate-splitting) activity when heated with 

 hydrochloric acid gas, and then ammonia; and that of 

 Woker, whose findings, at present rather disputed, would 

 tend to the belief that formaldehyde (the "formalin" of 

 commerce) may, under certain conditions, act in place of 

 diastase in hydrolyzing starch. 



} Some very far-reaching possibilities are suggested by 

 the studies on the lipases (fat-splitting enzymes) of cas- 

 tor and soya beans by Dr. Falk, of the Harriman Research 

 Laboratory. Every worker in the field is aware how very 

 easily enzymes are inactivated or destroyed by heat or 

 the presence of relatively small quantities of certain for- 

 eign bodies, such as acids and bases. The inactivation of 

 the lipases of the beans could be brought about not only 

 by these means, but also by neutral salts, alcohol, acetone, 

 etc. Dr. Falk conceived the idea that this inactivation was 

 due to an internal rearrangement of certain of the atoms 

 in the molecule of the enzyme. Many cases of such 

 tautomeric changes of rearrangement within the mole- 

 cule are known to organic chemists, and are often 

 brought about by the action of mild chemical agents. Dr. 

 Falk's hypothesis is to the effect that the grouping in- 

 volved is to be found in all proteins, and hence, probably, 

 in enzymes. If inactivation means the rearrangement of 

 a group from configuration I to that of 2, activation, or 

 change from 2 back to I, may be brought about by the 

 action of dilute alkali often used to bring about these 

 changes in configuration. Actual experiments on the ac- 

 tion of alkali on proteins (themselves quite inactive) have 

 endowed these substances with fat-splitting power. 



Whilst, therefore, we are far from a comprehensive 

 knowledge of the chemical configuration of an enzyme, 

 studies on the production of artificial enzymes, and on 

 the possible rearrangements of certain groups within the 

 molecule, may throw much light on a very perplexing 

 problem. 



