Enzyme unit many kinds of substance besides enzymes (for example, vitamins and hormones). Enzyme unit The enzyme unit (symbol U or sometimes EU) is a unit for the amount of a particular enzyme. One U is defined as the amount of the enzyme that produces a certain amount of enzymatic activity, that is, the amount that catalyzes the conversion of 1 micro-mole of substrate per minute. The conditions also have to be specified: one usually takes a temperature of 25°C and the pH value and substrate concentration that yield the maximal substrate conversion rate. The enzyme unit was adopted by the International
2019 redefinition of SI base units effect of redefining the SI base units, though the definitions of the SI derived units in terms of the base units remain the same. Following the CCU proposal, the text of the definitions of all the base units was either refined or rewritten changing the emphasis from explicit-unit to explicit-constant type definitions. Explicit-unit type definitions define a unit in terms of a specific example of that unit – for example in 1324 Edward II defined the inch as being the length of three barleycorns and since 1889 the kilogram has been defined as being the mass of the International Prototype