Effect of Microwave on Protein Conformations and Enzymatic Reactions

Microwave (MW) technology has attracted considerable attention as a promising approach for environmentally benign chemical processes owing to its high energy efficiency and potential for process simplification. Similarly, enzymatic reactions, which are characterized by high substrate specificity and mild reaction conditions, are indispensable technologies in both academic research and industrial applications and are widely recognized as representative green chemistry processes owing to their feasibility in aqueous media and the suppression of byproduct formation. The integration of enzymatic reactions with MW technology, referred to as MW-assisted enzymatic reactions, is therefore regarded as a promising research area. Enzymes, which are predominantly proteins and are structurally more complex than peptides, function as key catalytic entities in diverse biochemical reactions. Investigating the interactions between MWs and proteins and understanding how these interactions induce structural changes in protein molecules areessential for elucidating the effects of MW irradiation on enzymatic reactions. This review focuses on the effects of MW irradiation on protein conformations and enzymatic reactions. The insights presented herein are expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of MW-assisted enzymatic processes and the rational design of future sustainable reaction systems.