Acetylesterase

In biochemistry, an acetylesterase is a class of enzyme which catalyzes the hydrolysis of acetic esters into an alcohol and acetic acid:



This enzyme belongs to the family of hydrolases, specifically those acting on carboxylic ester bonds (esterases). The systematic name of this enzyme class is acetic-ester acetylhydrolase. Other names in common use include C-esterase (in animal tissues), acetic ester hydrolase, chloroesterase, p-nitrophenyl acetate esterase, and citrus acetylesterase.

Structural studies
As of late 2007, 3 structures have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB accession codes, , and.