Allosteric cooperativity in inhibition of protein kinase A was studied for the first time kinetically, by using the second-order rate constants of kemptide phosphorylation, measured in the absence and presence of inhibitors, and the effect of cooperativity was characterized in terms of the interaction factor . This kinetic method was evaluated for differently targeted inhibitors H89 and LRRAALG-NH 2 , and interaction of these compounds with the free enzyme and the enzyme-substrate complexes was quantified. The inhibitory effect of these compounds was asymmetric relatively ATP and kemptide, and allosteric enhancement of LRRAALG-NH 2 binding in the presence of ATP was revealed. This cooperative effect was compared with results of ligand binding studies and the principle "better binding -stronger allostery" was formulated and formalized in terms of a linear-free-energy relationship p( ) = C + S pK i , where p( ) stands for the negative logarithm of the interaction factor and pK i characterizes affinity of the free enzyme for the inhibitory peptide, C=-2.7 and S=0.9, r=0.92.