Bistability, electric potentials and sensor behaviour in an enzymatic reaction system

A special ionic enzyme kinetics in a continuously stirred flow reactor which is membrane coupled to a reservoir is considered starting from a general expression for the substrate dependence of enzymatic reaction rates including pH effects. Both bistability of the reaction and electric potentials between the interior and exterior of the reactor can be observed having regard to mass and charge conservation as well as global electroneutrality. The sudden jumps at critical concentration values from one stable solution branch to the other on a hysteresis loop are supposed to be the basic action principle of a non-equilibrium concentration threshold sensor. (author). 38 refs, 3 figs