Deuterium and tritium exchange in enzyme kinetics.

The theory of the isotopic exchange of deuterium and tritium between an enzyme-substrate complex and the solvent is derived for 16 different types of experiment involving measurements of initial velocities and of the isotopic content of the reactants and products as a function of the extent of reaction. It is shown how the data from these experiments can be analyzed to obtain the rate constants for the individual steps and thereby the Gibbs free energies of the intermediates and transition states in the reaction. The effects of isotopic substitution on each intermidiate and transition state are also found and this allows conclusions to be drawn as to the extent to which a proton is in flight in a particular transition state. Neither substrate handling (that is, on-off steps), nor the isotopic exchange with the solvent, is assumed to be rapid.