| Next: Constant rates in open Up: Mechanism Previous: Species names Index |
Rate and equilibrium constant names
Rate constants appear on each line in the mechanism after the colon sign (:). If a mechanism step is reversible, there must be two rate constants present. If a mechanism step is written with one-sided arrow, either because it is irreversible or because it each step is written individually, only one rate constant must be present.
Names of rate constants may consist of any continuous series of at most 32 characters, including the plus sign (+). A good practice is to keep the names of rate constants short and descriptive. For example, the rate constant for substrateassociation might be called tt ksa, and the rate constant for substrate dissociation might be named ksd. Enzymologists who prefer numerical naming schemes are free to name the rate constants accordingly.
Examples of valid rate constant names:
k1 k2 k3 K1 K2 K3 k_1 k_2 k_3 k+1 k-1 k ki ks kas kds K(as) K(ds) kAS kDS kai kdi k-ai k-di kij kji k(i->j) k(j->i)
| Next: Constant rates in open Up: Mechanism Previous: Species names Index |
Petr Kuzmic | Jul 12 2005