Patent ID: 8795979

Claim:
A method for assessing activity and/or amount of a hydrolytic enzyme in a sample, which method comprises: a) contacting a sample containing or suspected of containing a hydrolytic enzyme with a hydrolytic enzyme substrate having a structure of formula (I): under conditions where said hydrolytic enzyme, if present in said sample, cleaves said substrate to produce an aryl alcohol molecule or unsaturated aliphatic alcohol molecule having a structure of formula (II) and a compound having a structure of formula (III): wherein A is an aromatic or heteroaromatic group, a 1-alkene or a 1-alkyne, each of which is optionally substituted; each R is independently H or an optionally substituted C1-C4 alkyl or aryl; n is an integer from 1-4; and X is a group comprising a substrate moiety; and b) assessing the presence and/or amount of said aryl alcohol molecule or unsaturated aliphatic alcohol molecule to assess activity and/or amount of said hydrolytic enzyme in said sample, wherein the step of assessing the presence and/or amount of the aryl alcohol molecule or unsaturated aliphatic alcohol molecule comprises oxidizing the aryl alcohol molecule or unsaturated aliphatic alcohol molecule with enzymatic oxidation in the presence of oxygen to produce H 2 O 2 and assessing the presence and/or amount of the H 2 O 2 , or enzymatic oxidation in the presence of NAD + or NADP + to produce NADH or NADPH, and assessing the presence and/or amount of the NAD + , NADP + , NADH or NADPH.