KINETIC-BEHAVIOR OF AN ENZYMATIC SYSTEM WITH UNSTABLE PRODUCT - CONDITIONS OF LIMITING SUBSTRATE CONCENTRATION

We present a kinetic analysis of the Michaelis-Menten mechanism, under conditions of limiting substrate concentration, for the case in which the product is unstable. The equations for the rapid equilibrium cond itions are obtained as a particular case of the general equations. The kinetic data analysis which we suggest is based on the time progress curves of the product or, in the case in which the product accumulatio n cannot be monitored experimentally, on the time progress curve of th e species into which the product is transformed. This analysis allows the determination of the rate and equilibrium constants if adequate ex perimental results are available. We have chosen a numerical example, with which we illustrate the procedure of the kinetic data analysis by simulating some curves with assumed experimental errors.