At the aim of investigating whether the early rapid phase of enzyme turnover is different in reverse micelles compared with bulk water, the kinetic properties of a-chymotrypsin have been studied in reverse micelles formed by sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate in isooctane. Pre-steady state and steady-state kinetic constants, in water and in reverse micelles, have been determined by stoppedflow spectrophotometry for the hydrolysis of two substrates, namely acetyl-l-tryptophan-pnitrophenyl ester andp-nitrophenyl acetate. It has been shown that, for both substrates, the acylation rate constant (k,) is very much lower in reverse micelles than in water. However, the deacylation rate constant (k3) and the turnover number (kca,) are not significantly changed in reverse micelles with respect to bulk water. Therefore, despite considerable rate changes in the acylation step, deacylation is rate limiting both in water as well as in reverse micelles, under the experimental conditions used.The present paper reports a first investigation of the individual rate constants in the kinetics of cr-chymotrypsin in reverse micelles using stopped-flow spectrophotometry. Surprisingly, despite the large number of papers devoted to micellar enzymology (for recent reviews see, for example, [l -3]), stopped-flow spectrophotometry has, to date, not been used for enzymes in reverse micelles, with the cxception of one earlier attempt [4]. The study of the early phase of the enzyme cycle can provide information on the enzyme mechanism, and in particular be used to clarify the nature of the rate-limiting step associated with the enzyme turnover. Some enzyme/substrate systems in aqueous solution show, for example, a 'burstphase' [5] prior to the steady-state zero-order time progress. a-Chymotrypsin-catalyzed hydrolysis of esters is one such case, reflecting the fact that the rate-limiting step is at the level of the deacylation step [5].It seemed, therefore, particularly interesting to investigate the stopped-flow kinetics in reverse micelles, to determine whether the localization of the enzyme in a reverse micelle would change this mechanistic situation.The reverse-micellar system used was sodium (2-ethylhexy1)-sulfosuccinate (AOT) in isooctane; we have focussed our study on two p-nitrophenyl ester substrates, namely acetyl-L-tryptophan-p-nitrophenyl ester (Ac-Trp-ONp) and p-nitrophenyl acetate (Ac-ONp). In both cases, the a-chymo- trypsin-mediated substrate hydrolysis in aqueous systems proceeds through the following scheme [S] :where E is the enzyme, S the p-nitrophenyl ester substrate, ES the Michaelis complex, EAc the acylcnzyme and PI, Pz the two products (p-nitrophenol and acetyl-L-tryptophan or acetic acid). For both ester substrates, deacylation is the ratelimiting step in aqueous solution under neutral or slightly alkaline conditions [6, 71; in other words k2 % kJ.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
ReagentsAOT (approximately 99% pure) was from Sigma. Its purity was checked by recording the ultraviolet absorption spectrum in isooctane and by t...