Hydrolysis

A reaction in which a molecule of water is added at the site of cleavage of a molecule to two products.

A chemical reaction in which water is added across a covalent bond, often cleaving the molecule into two. Occurs for example when polynucleotides, polypeptides, and polysaccharides are broken into their component monomers . Thus sucrose can be hydrolysed to glucose and fructose; and proteins to individual amino acids.

A chemical reaction that uses water to break down a compound.

A process of breaking chemical bonds of a compound by adding water to the bonds.

The conversion, by reaction with water, of a complex substance into two or more smaller units, such as the conversion of cellulose into glucose sugar units.

The chemical process in which scission of a chemical bond occurs via reaction with water. The polyester chemical bonds in tape binder polymers are subject to hydrolysis, producing alcohol and acid end groups. Hydrolysis is a reversible reaction, meaning that the alcohol and acid groups can react with each other to produce a polyester bond and water as a by-product. In practice, however, a severely degraded tape binder layer will never fully reconstruct back to its original integrity when placed in a very low-humidity environment.