hidrolytik

Hidrolytik is a term used in several languages to describe hydrolytic processes—the chemical or enzymatic breakdown of compounds by reaction with water. In English, the corresponding adjective is hydrolytic. The concept encompasses abiotic hydrolysis, where water facilitates bond cleavage through acid-, base-, or neutral-catalyzed pathways, and biocatalyzed hydrolysis, where enzymes called hydrolases catalyze reactions under physiological conditions.

Chemical hydrolysis typically involves cleavage of esters, amides, glycosidic bonds, and other polar linkages, yielding products such as carboxylic acids, alcohols, amines, or sugars. Enzymatic hydrolysis is highly specific and is fundamental to metabolism and digestion. Examples include proteases hydrolyzing peptide bonds, lipases cleaving esters in fats, and glycosidases breaking glycosidic bonds in carbohydrates.

Applications span biology, industry, and environmental science. In digestion, hydrolysis converts proteins to amino acids, starches to glucose, and fats to glycerol and fatty acids. Industrially, hydrolysis is used to produce monosaccharides from starch, to prepare esters, and to degrade polymers such as cellulose or PET for recycling or pretreatment. In pharmacology, hydrolytic stability influences drug formulation and release, while environmental processes involve the hydrolytic breakdown of pesticides and plastics.

Study of hidrolytik includes kinetics, mechanism, and factors affecting rate, such as pH, temperature, water activity, and catalysts. See also hydrolysis, hydrolase, saponification, and polymer degradation.