Lysozyme is an enzyme that breaks bacterial cell walls. A...

Lysozyme is an enzyme that breaks bacterial cell walls. A solution containing 0.150 gof this enzyme in 210 $\mathrm{mL}$ of solution has an osmotic pressure of 0.953 torr at $25^{\circ} \mathrm{C}$ . What is the molar mass of lysozyme?

Key Concepts

Molar Mass Determination using Colligative Properties

Molar mass determination using colligative properties involves measuring a property of the solution, such as osmotic pressure, that depends on the number of solute particles and not their nature. By knowing the mass of the solute added to a specific volume of solvent and applying the van 't Hoff equation, the number of moles can be calculated. Dividing the known mass by the number of moles yields the molar mass, which is especially useful in studying large biomolecules like enzymes.

van 't Hoff Equation

The van 't Hoff equation, expressed as ? = MRT, connects osmotic pressure (?) with the molarity (M) of the solute, the absolute temperature (T), and the gas constant (R). This equation is crucial for experiments that determine molecular weights, since it allows one to calculate the solute’s concentration from measurable quantities like pressure and temperature.

Osmotic Pressure

Osmotic pressure is a colligative property that reflects the tendency of a solvent to move across a semipermeable membrane into a solution with a higher concentration of solute. It is measured as the pressure required to stop this net flow of solvent, and its value in a solution depends only on the number of solute particles, not their individual identities.

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