Welcome to your study of enzyme kinetics, the subject that underlies all enzymology, which in turn underlies all aspects of biochemistry. This text will give you an introduction to a wide range of topics that constitute the modern enzyme kinetics. This textbook is directed at graduate students in biochemistry, chemistry, and life sciences, for advanced courses in enzyme kinetics, enzymology, and enzyme chemistry. For this reason, the whole book is organized in a systematic and scholarly fashion. It is unlikely that the student will be expected to cover everything in the text, but in a later career she or he may find it an invaluable reference for topics that are needed in practice. The concepts, definitions and detailed algebra of enzyme kinetics are laid out in accurate detail.
For that reason, this textbook can also serve as a handbook for enzyme kinetics for research workers in the field. The research worker will find it a useful source, which can be used for solving the daily experimental problems in the laboratory.
The preparation of the manuscript for this book was under the constant surveillance of W. Wallace Cleland, Professor of Chemical Science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and one of the founders of modern enzyme kinetics.
Without his help and advice, this book would not be possible. Several versions of the manuscript were constantly corrected and improved by Svetlana Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Novi Sad. The final version of the manuscript was corrected by Dexter B. Northrop, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, by Richard L. Schowen, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and by Bryce V. Plapp, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
The writing and the technical preparation of this book was supported by able computer engineers in Novi Sad, who provided the software, the hardware, and the maintenance of our computer facilities. The Faculty of Technology at the University of Novi Sad provided the logistics and the financial support for the preparation of the manuscript. Also, I owe my thanks to the staff of the Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, for their constant help and patience during the preparation of this book. Alden Bookset was responsible for an excellent typesetting of this book.
Finally, as the former disciple of Professor Gerhard Pfleiderer, I dedicate this book to him, in recognition of his germinal and indelible contributions to the field of enzyme structure and function.