Studies on Horseradish Peroxidase. XII. A Kinetic Study of the Oxidation of Sulfite and Nitrite by Compounds I and II
The kinetics of the oxidation of sulfite and nitrite by horseradish peroxidase compounds I and II have been studied as a function of pH at 25° and ionic strength 0.11. The pH dependence of the rate of the reaction between compound I and sulfite over the pH range 2–7 is interpreted in terms of two ground state enzyme dissociations with pka values of 5.1 and 3.3, and that for the compound II reaction with sulfite in terms of a single ground state enzyme dissociation with a pKa value of 3.9. Whereas the reaction between compound I and sulfite produces the native enzyme without the intermediate formation of compound II, the reaction of compound I with nitrite yields compound II. The second-order rate constants for the reactions of compounds I and II with nitrite increase linearly with increasing hydrogen ion concentration over the pH range 6–8.