人工酶是指人工合成的具有酶活性位点的有机分子。

酶能够以高度的专一性和催化效率对化学反应进行催化，而酶的催化活性位点只是酶这样的大分子中的很小一部分。因此，可以通过人工合成小分子，包括结合底物的基团和进行催化的功能性基团，来模拟酶的活性位点。由于需要结合分子，因此人工酶是在宿主分子，如环糊精、冠醚、杯芳烃等环状分子的基础上进行设计的。

许多催化不同反应的人工酶已经被报道提高反应速率的倍数可达10；然而，其催化效率依然远低于天然的酶（通常可以提高反应速率至10倍）。人工酶研究领域中的开拓者是化学家Ronald Breslow。

An artificial enzyme is a synthetic, organic molecule prepared to recreate the active site of an enzyme.

Enzyme catalysis of chemical reactions occur with high selectivity and rate in a small part of the enzyme macromolecule known as the active site. There, the binding of a substrate close to functional groups in the enzyme causes catalysis by so-called proximity effects. It is therefore possible to create similar catalysts from small molecule mimics of enzyme active sites by combining, in a small molecule, the ability to bind substrate with catalytic functional groups. Since the artificial enzymes need to bind molecules, they are made based on a host-molecule such as a cyclodextrin, crown ethers or calixarene etc.