THE KINETICS OF ENZYME REACTIONS: SCHÜTZ'S LAW

1. A review of the applicability of Schütz's Law to enzymic reactions is given. 2. The theoretical deductions of the Law, (a) on the basis of the law of mass action, (b) on the basis of the adsorption theory, are given and the significance of the assumptions made in these deductions pointed out. 3. It is shown that the true critical increment for an enzymic reaction is equal to twice the critical increment calculated from the Schütz constant k(s), if the heat of decomposition of the enzyme-products complex be neglected. 4. Experiments are described on the tryptic hydrolysis of casein at 30°C. and 404C. The foregoing considerations are applied to the experimental results obtained.