Activation energy for the acid catalysed hydrolysis of sucrose is 6.22 kJ mol–1, while the activation energy is only 2.15 kJ mol–1 when hydrolysis is catalyzed by the enzyme sucrase. Explain.
Enzymes are biocatalysts, which in small quantities provide an alternate path to reduce the activation energy of the reaction. Using enzyme sucrase, the hydrolysis of sucrose is much faster than conventional acidic hydrolysis.