Invertase, action kinetics

Michaelis, L. and Menten, M.L. (1913) Kinetics of invertase action. Biochem. Zeit., 49, 333. 

Applications of chemical kinetics to enzyme-catalyzed reactions soon followed. Because of the ease with which its progress could be monitored polarimetrically, enzyme hydrolysis of sucrose by invertase was a popular system for study. O Sullivan and Tompson (1890) concluded that the reaction obeyed the Law of Mass Action and in a paper entitled, Invertase A Contribution to the History of an Enzyme or Unorganized Ferment , they wrote [Enzymes] possess a life function without life. Is there anything [in their actions] which can be distinguished from ordinary chemical action ... 

Thus, the enzyme has a kinetic behavior consistent with a role of a recycling catalyst, which led Michaehs and Menten to propose the following Idnetic mechanism of action for invertase (Fig. 2). 

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