Rate Constants of a Catalyzed Reaction
- In the two-step catalyzed reaction, there are additional rate constants needed to describe the
progress of the reaction:
- k1, is a forward rate constant that describes the
rate at which the free substrate associates with the enzyme
- k-1, is the reverse rate constant for the first step, which
describes how quickly the substrate dissociates from the enzyme, without a reaction taking place
- k2, describes the rate at which the enzyme converts bound substrate
to product
- In general, the association and dissociation rates are very rapid because only noncovalent interactions occur.
Bond breaking and formation typically occur for k2, so the conversion rate is usually much slower, and
thus is the rate-limiting one for the overall reaction