82 - PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 



ducts might be expected with the aid of the same enzymes that 

 affected the decomposition. Hill was the first to accomplish 

 synthesis with enzymes, and obtained a different compound from 

 the original. Kastle and Loevenhart (1900) succeeded in 

 synthesizing a fat, ethyl-butyrate, from butyric acid and alcohol, 

 by means of lipase of the pancreas. The attempts to synthesize 

 proteins have not given such unequivocal results. Since the 

 chemical constitution of proteins is unknown, it is not surprising 

 that some difference of opinion should arise in the interpretation 

 of changes occurring in mixtures of protein decomposition pro- 

 ducts and protease. Some interpret the appearance of a precipi- 

 tate as synthesized protein, others as coagulation of albumoses 

 already present. Perhaps one difficulty in producing syntheses 

 is that they are likely to be endothermic reactions, which absorb 

 energy from without, as in case of the synthesis of carbohydrates 

 in the chloroplast of the green plant under the influence of sun- 

 light. The energy of the light is absorbed during the synthesis. 

 In this process the C0 2 is reduced and hydrated with the forma- 

 tion apparently of formaldehyde, which is synthesized into sugar 

 and starch. 



As was previously stated, the important effect of a catalyzer 

 is on the rate of a reaction. In case the concentration of the 

 catalyzer remains constant, implying that if it enters into the 

 reaction, a vanishing quantity of it is bound at any one time, 

 the rate of the reaction may follow the law of mass action for 

 a monomolecular reaction. 



dx 

 = c (a — x) 



dt 



In which a — x is the concentration of the substance at any par- 

 ticular moment, and c is the constant denoting the speed of re- 

 action. This law holds true, for instance, for the hydrolysis of 

 cane sugar by means of a fixed H ion concentration, since the 

 concentration of the H 2 that enters into the reaction remains 

 the same, and the only variable is the concentration of the cane 

 sugar. If the concentration of the H ions is varied, the reaction 

 constant, c, varies in the same ratio. 



One of the oldest theories of the mechanism of catalytic action 

 is that the catalyzer enters into the reaction transforming it into 



