The kinetics of papain- and ficin-catalysed hydrolyses in the presence of alcohols.

1. The maximum rate of production of p-nitrophenol (V(max.)) for both papain- and ficin-catalysed hydrolyses of p-nitrophenyl hippurate is independent of methanol concentration up to 2m for papain and 1.5m for ficin. 2. The observed catalytic constant (k(0)) for the production of hippuric acid for both papain- and ficin-catalysed hydrolyses of methyl hippurate decreases with increasing methanol concentration, 1/k(0) being linearly dependent on the methanol concentration. The k(MeOH)/k(H2O) ratio is determined. 3. These results provide strong evidence against general base catalysis for the rate-determining step in the deacylation of hippuryl-papain and hippuryl-ficin and probably for other specific acyl-papains and acyl-ficins. 4. The rate-determining step for the deacylation of the non-specific trans-cinnamoyl-papain appears to be different from that for the specific hippuryl-papain, and is probably subject to general base catalysis. It is possible, however, to accommodate all these observations in a single four-step reaction pathway. 5. Propan-2-ol did not influence the rate of production of hippuric acid for the papain-catalysed hydrolysis of methyl hippurate. A similar result has previously been reported for the ficin-catalysed hydrolysis of methyl hippurate. Ethanol and of course methanol (see 2) decrease the rate of production of hippuric acid for both papain- and ficin-catalysed hydrolyses of methyl hippurate. It is suggested that the secondary alcohol is incapable for structural reasons of approaching the bond to be hydrolysed.