Enzymes require a certain level of water in their structures in order to maintain their natural conformation, allowing them to deliver their full functionality. Furthermore, as a modifier of the solvent, up to a certain level, water can modify the solvent properties such as polarity/polarizability as well as the solubility of the reactants and the products. In addition, depending on the type of the reaction, water can be a substrate (e.g., in hydrolysis) or a product (e.g., in esterolysis) of the enzymatic reaction, influencing the enzyme turnover in different ways. It is found that regardless of the type of reaction, the functionality of enzyme itself is maximum at an optimum level of water, beyond which the enzyme performance is declined due to the loss in enzyme stability. Furthermore, mass transfer limitations caused by pathway blockage and/or by reduced solubilities of the reactants and/or products can also affect the enzyme performance at higher water levels. Controlling water content of ingoing CO2 and substrates as well as precise management of enzyme support and salt hydrates are important strategies to adjust water level in reaction media, especially in supercritical environments.

中文翻译：

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水对酶性能的影响，重点在于超临界流体中的反应。

酶在其结构中需要一定水平的水，以维持其天然构象，从而使其发挥其全部功能。此外，作为溶剂的改性剂，直至一定水平，水可以改变溶剂的性质，例如极性/极化性以及反应物和产物的溶解度。另外，取决于反应的类型，水可以是酶促反应的底物（例如，在水解中）或产物（例如，在酯水解中），以不同的方式影响酶的转化。已经发现，不管反应的类型如何，在水的最佳水平下酶本身的功能是最大的，超过该水平，由于酶稳定性的损失而使酶性能下降。此外，由途径阻塞和/或反应物和/或产物的溶解度降低引起的传质限制也会影响较高水位下的酶性能。控制进入的CO2和底物的水含量以及精确管理酶载体和盐水合物是调节反应介质中水位的重要策略，尤其是在超临界环境中。