Influence of pH on the Kinetics of Reactions Catalyzed by Alkaline Phosphatase

Abstract

An experimental study has been made of the kinetics of the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl phosphate catalyzed by chicken-intestinal alkaline phosphatase. The work was done in barbital buffer (carbonate above pH 9.6), and covered the pH range from 7.0 to 10.0. A sufficiently wide range of substrate concentration was used to allow reliable values of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] to be determined. The results lead to pK values of 8.1 and 8.6 for the free enzyme, and it is concluded that the Michaelis complex and the phosphoryl intermediate ionize only on the acid side, the former also having a pK of 8.1. It is suggested that the group of pK 8.1 is probably an α-amino group and that the group of pK 8.6 probably corresponds to the ionization of a Zn(II)-coordinated water molecule.