An initial rate evaluation of the triazolium-catalysed benzoin condensation permitted a Hammett structure–activity analysis providing insight into rate-limiting step.

On careful examination of existing kinetic data for correct and incorrect dNTP incorporations by a variety of DNA polymerases, it is apparent that these enzymes resist a unified description. Instead, the picture that emerges is a rather complex one: for most polymerases, there is evidence for a noncovalent step preceding phosphoryl transfer, but there are less reliable data for determining whet...

Horse liver aldehyde dehydrogenase, like other aldehyde dehydrogenases, is capable of hydrolyzing esters such as nitrophenyl acetate. Pre-steady state and burst kinetics were performed using substrate levels of enzyme to determine whether the rate-limiting step occurred prior to or after the formation of an acyl enzyme intermediate. A burst was found by both techniques for the dehydrogenase rea...

Heme oxygenase (HO) catalyzes the O2 and NADPH/cytochrome P450 reductase-dependent conversion of heme to biliverdin, free iron ion, and CO through a process in which the heme participates as both dioxygen-activating prosthetic group and substrate. We earlier confirmed that the first step of HO catalysis is a monooxygenation in which the addition of one electron and two protons to the HO oxy-fer...

Gene delivery of nucleic acid to the cell nucleus is a fundamental step in gene therapy. In this review of modeling drug and gene delivery, we focus on the particular stage of plasmid DNA or virus cytoplasmic trafficking. A challenging problem is to quantify the success of this limiting stage. We present some models and simulations of plasmid trafficking and of the limiting phase of DNA-polycat...

Significant cleavage by hammerhead ribozymes requires activation by divalent metal ions. Several models have been proposed to account for the influence of metal ions on hammerhead activity. A number of recent papers have presented data that have been interpreted as supporting a one-metal-hydroxide-ion mechanism. In addition, a solvent deuterium isotope effect has been taken as evidence against ...

N-type inactivation of voltage-gated potassium channels is an autoinhibitory process that occurs when the N terminus binds within the channel pore and blocks conduction. N-type inactivation and recovery occur with single-exponential kinetics, consistent with a single-step reaction where binding and block occur simultaneously. However, recent structure-function studies have suggested the presenc...

An asymmetric cell based on a proton conductor, BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.1Yb0.1O3 d (BZCYYb), with a welldefined patterned Pt electrode was prepared to study the kinetics and mechanism of the hydrogen oxidation reaction under typical conditions for fuel cell operation and hydrogen separation, including operating temperature and hydrogen partial pressure. Steady-state polarization curves were carefully an...