Transition State Analogues of Enzymatic Reaction as Potential Drugs

All chemical transformations pass through an unstable structure called the transition state, which is poised between the chemical structures of the substrates and products. The transi‐ tion states for chemical reactions are proposed to have lifetimes near 10-13 sec, the time for a single bond vibration. Thus, the transition state is the critical configuration of a reaction sys‐ tem situated at the highest point of the most favorable reaction path on the potential-energy surface, with its characteristics governing the dynamic behavior of reacting systems deci‐ sively. It is used primarily to understand qualitatively how chemical reactions take place.