In biochemistry, hydrolases constitute a class of enzymes that commonly function as biochemical catalysts that use water to break a chemical bond: A − B + H 2 O → hydrolase A − OH + B − H {\displaystyle {\ce {A-B + H2O}}\quad {\xrightarrow[{\text{ hydrolase }}]{}}\quad {\ce {A-OH + B-H}}} This typically results in dividing a larger molecule into smaller molecules. Wikipedia