In enzymology, a styrene-oxide isomerase is an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 that catalyzes

Catalysis

Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....

 the chemical reaction

Chemical reaction

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...

styrene oxide phenylacetaldehyde

Hence, this enzyme has one substrate

Substrate (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions involving the substrate. In the case of a single substrate, the substrate binds with the enzyme active site, and an enzyme-substrate complex is formed. The substrate is transformed into one or...

, styrene oxide

Styrene oxide

Styrene oxide is an epoxide derived from styrene. It may be prepared by epoxidation of styrene with peroxybenzoic acid, in the Prilezhaev reaction:- Toxicology :...

, and one product

Product (chemistry)

Product are formed during chemical reactions as reagents are consumed. Products have lower energy than the reagents and are produced during the reaction according to the second law of thermodynamics. The released energy comes from changes in chemical bonds between atoms in reagent molecules and...

, phenylacetaldehyde

Phenylacetaldehyde

Phenylacetaldehyde is an aromatic compound found in buckwheat, chocolate and many other foods and flowers.It is also responsible for the antibiotic activity of maggot therapy and it is also a compound that is added to cigarettes to improve their aroma....

.

This enzyme belongs to the family of isomerase

Isomerase

In biochemistry, an isomerase is an enzyme that catalyzes the structural rearrangement of isomers. Isomerases thus catalyze reactions of the formwhere B is an isomer of A.-Nomenclature:...

s, specifically a class of other intramolecular oxidoreductase

Oxidoreductase

In biochemistry, an oxidoreductase is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of electrons from one molecule to another...

s. The systematic name of this enzyme class is styrene-oxide isomerase (epoxide-cleaving). This enzyme is also called SOI. This enzyme participates in styrene degradation.