Improving Enzyme Catalytic Efficiency by Co-operative Vibrational Strong Coupling of Water

Here, we report enhancement of catalytic efficiency of an enzymatic reaction by co-operative vibrational strong coupling (VSC) of water and the enzyme α-chymotrypsin. Selective strong coupling of the O–H stretching mode of water along with O–H and N–H stretching modes of the enzyme modify the rate of the enzymatic ester hydrolysis, increasing the catalytic efficiency by more than 7 times. This is specifically achieved by controlling the rate-determining proton-transfer process through a co-operative mechanism. Here, VSC is also used as a spectroscopic tool to understand the mechanism of the enzymatic reaction, suggesting its potential applications in chemistry.