hydrolysis

thumb|upright=1.7|Generic hydrolysis reaction. (The 2-way yield symbol indicates a chemical equilibrium in which hydrolysis and condensation are reversible.) Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution and elimination reactions in which water is the nucleophile.

AI overview

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction where a water molecule breaks one or more chemical bonds in another substance, often used to describe reactions where water acts as the attacking agent in substitution and elimination reactions. It matters because it's a fundamental process in chemistry—reversible with the opposite reaction (condensation)—that helps break down complex molecules into simpler ones.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

186,493 papers

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Image: Hydrolysis.png

Show 2 more facts

Commons category: Hydrolyses
exact match: biomodels.net/SBO/SBO_0000376

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~14 min read

Article

14 sections

Contents

Types
Esters and amides
ATP
Polysaccharides{{Anchor|saccharification}}
DNA
Metal aqua ions
Mechanism strategies
Catalysis
Acid hydrolysis
Alkaline hydrolysis
Supercritical hydrolysis
See also
References
Further reading

Biological hydrolysis is the cleavage of biomolecules where a water molecule is consumed to effect the separation of a larger molecule into component parts. When a carbohydrate is broken into its component sugar molecules by hydrolysis (e.g., sucrose being broken down into glucose and fructose), this is recognized as saccharification.