ANALYSIS OF STOPPED-FLOW DATA FOR CONSECUTIVE REACTIONS USING A MICROPROCESSOR-BASED SYSTEM

A microprocessor-based system was developed to log and analyze a signal produced from a stopped-flow apparatus used to study the kinetics of chemical reactions. The system is capable of calculating the rate constants of up to five consecutive reactions. Based on previous work in this laboratory, the system software was modified to implement the developed algorithm which calculates rate constants for reactions not reaching steady state. Using the powerful graphics capability of the system the user is able to define each reaction precisely when two reactions are overlapping. The set of data points per reaction is processed accurately to calculate the rate constant of the reaction. The system was tested for several compounds and the results were found to be reproducible and highly accurate.