Velocity of Ellman's reaction and its implication for kinetic studies in the millisecond time range.

A detailed study of the velocity of the reaction between Ellman's reagent and thiocholine was undertaken, in order to test the possibilities of this reaction as a detection method for the earlier stages of cholinesterases reactions. Experiments were carried out on a stopped-flow apparatus with a built-in spectrophotometer. The obtained experimental data were analyzed by fitting the data to theoretical kinetic equations derived for the reaction. In this way, a complete kinetic characterization of the reaction was obtained. An important practical result derived from our investigations is the finding that, under most experimental conditions, the Ellman's reaction is more than sufficiently rapid as a detection method. However, in the case of reactions in the time scale of 200 milliseconds or less, this being 5 times the half life of Ellman's reaction at standard conditions, one has to consider the interference of this reaction with the enzyme reaction itself.