Many enzymes cannot catalyze their reactions unaided and require an accessory molecule that binds the enzyme for it to function; these helpers divide into coenzymes and cofactors by mechanistic role. A coenzyme is an organic (carbon-based) carrier molecule that transports a chemical entity — electrons, or an acyl or acetyl group — between reactions, cycling between loaded and unloaded forms; a cofactor participates directly in the catalytic mechanism itself, stabilizing the enzyme, the substrate, or the transition state rather than ferrying a group from one molecule to another. This concept belongs to biochemistry and enzymology, and it connects catalysis to nutrition, since dietary vitamins are organic coenzyme precursors and dietary minerals are typically inorganic cofactors that the body cannot synthesize.
Many enzymes cannot catalyze their reactions unaided and require an accessory molecule that binds the enzyme for it to function; these helpers divide into coenzymes and cofactors by mechanistic role.…