Esterase

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of esters into their corresponding acids and alcohols
2. Enzymes that play a role in various biological processes by breaking down ester bonds to release free acids and alcohols
3. Biochemical catalysts that facilitate the conversion of esters, often affecting metabolic pathways and substance degradation

Etymology: Esterase is a straightforward coinage: it is simply "ester" with the suffix "-ase" attached. The "-ase" ending is the standard chemical marker for an enzyme, and it was itself borrowed by analogy from "diastase," the first enzyme to be named in this way. Diastase was coined in the early 1830s from Greek roots, and its name, built on the Greek "dia-" (apart, through) and "-stasis" (standing, a stopping), was chosen to describe its ability to break starch apart. Chemists then began attaching "-ase" to the names of other enzymes, which is why "-ase" became the common enzyme suffix in modern biochemistry. "Ester" itself is an older chemical term, coined in German in the 1840s, and it is a shortened form of "Essigäther," the German name for ethyl acetate, the compound that the word first described. Esterase therefore means, literally, an enzyme that acts on esters: a substance that breaks the ester bond apart, returning the original alcohol and acid.

Synonyms: enzyme, catalyst