What is a major advantage of base-catalysed hydrolysis of an ester over an acid-

catalysed hydrolysis?
3 Answers
Besides being faster and usually giving higher yield, base catalysis is nearly
quantitative (you hydrolyze approximately as many moles of ester groups as many
moles of the base you put in, while acid catalysis usually results in hydrolysis of
many more if allowed to proceed for long enough), so it can be used to e. g.
hydrolyze just one ester group from a diester in acceptable yield.
Acid catalysis takes hours, base catalysis takes minutes.
The other reason is that base-catalyzed hydrolysis is irreversible; acid-catalyzed
hydrolysis is reversible. That means you get a higher yield if you do it with base.
Enzymatic hydrolysis advantages include being a mild process compared to other
chemical conversions, it requires less energy, and produces less by-product. The
disadvantages include low reaction rates and a high yield of sugar monomers.
Compared to acid or alkaline hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis has the advantage of being a
milder process with a more selective hydrolysis.

Technique Mechanism Sensitivity Limit of detection

Bradford based on the can The lower limit of
proportional measure protein quantitie detection for this
binding of the s as little as 1 to 20 g. method is
dye Coomassie approximately
to proteins 3,0005,000
daltons.
Biuret Combination of 01 mg requires at
protein samples
least 1 mg of
with Biuret
Reagent which protein.
contains copper
ions in a basic
solution.

Under
alkaline
conditions
substances
containing
two or more
peptide
bonds form a
 purple
complex with
copper salts
in the
reagent.
Microbradford

In milk, caseins exist as the calcium salt arranged in micellar particles

surrounded by soluble kappa-casein. The casein component of milk is relatively
heat-stable, capable of surviving pasturization at ~62-71 C. Conversely the
whey protein component is denatured at these temperatures.

In general, caseins have limited -helix and -sheet secondary structure. They
tend to be high in proline content and have very few disulfide bonds.

Casein solubility is pH dependent and is also affected by ionic strength and

composition. Addition of sodium chloride will affect solubility differently
depending on when it is added to the solution during pH adjustment.