CATALYSIS AND THE ENZYMES 



C TT 



acid. Its formula n ^ > O does not contain 



L 2 H 5 



any sulphur. It is formed from alcohol simply by 

 loss of water: 2 (C 2 H 5 OH) - H 2 O = (C 2 H 5 )^ O. 

 No sulphuric acid is consumed in this process. 

 Such remarkable reactions have become known in 

 continually increasing number. Since the effect of 

 the metal or the sulphuric acid seems to be caused 

 merely by contact, the German chemist Mitscher- 

 lich proposed to call such effects Contact Effects. 

 Mitscherlich recognised a very important fact 

 in many of such contact reactions, viz. that in 

 these the large surface of finely divided contact 

 substances must play an important part. The 

 famous Swedish chemist Berzelius, who took a 

 great interest in these phenomena, believed that a 

 peculiar force is exerted by contact substances. 

 He called that force Catalytic Power. The name 

 Catalysis has since been generally accepted. Cata- 

 lytic reactions soon became most important for 

 biology. Just a century ago Kirchhoff, of St. 

 Petersburg, found that starch is transformed into 

 grape sugar by the working of mineral acids. 

 It was known to him that no acid is consumed in 

 this process. In 1833 Payen and Persoz in Paris 

 made the discovery, which has had far-reaching 

 consequences, that germinating seeds contain a 

 peculiar contact substance, which transforms 

 starch into sugar. This substance they named 

 Diastase. In quick succession similar reaction 

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