CHED 216 |
| A natural catalyst in fat metabolism is lipoxygenase, an enzyme which plays a pivotal role in the body's biosynthesis of leukotrienes. The ongoing study of lipoxygenase is important not only for therapeutic reasons but also the ever growing knowledge of catalysts. This project is an in-depth look into the kinetics of lipoxygenase, specifically soybean lipoxygenase-1 with linoleic acid as a substrate. The study compares and contrasts the effect of alcohols of different structures and their corresponding hydroperoxides. The first alcohol tested was 2-phenyl-2-propanol. It was found to be an inhibitor of the steady state at relatively high concentrations. Cumene hydroperoxide was an inhibitor at much lower concentrations but only at high substrate concentration. The research is interesting because 2-phenyl-2-propanol and cumene hydroperoxide differ in structure by only one oxygen atom which leads to a big difference in inhibition. |
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Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Biochemistry
2:30 PM-4:30 PM, Monday, 11 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |