Badania procesu demetylacji nikotyny w warunkach in vivo [Investigations of nicotine demethylation process in vivo]

Investigations were carried out on intact leaves of <i>Nicotiana alata</i> which contain practically not alkaloids. Whey these leaves are infiltrated with nicotine it undergoes some chemical changes rather quickly. After introducing the nicotine into the leaves the alkaloid composition was investigated in three day intervals after the infiltration was stopped. No oxynicotine was present in the investigated material. The formation of nornicotine was determined quantitatively in outer and internal layers of the leaf blade. On the basis of these results determination of order and rate of nicotine demethylation was attempted. The reaction was classifield as a first order monomolecular reaction. In this connection a presumed mechanism of nicotine demethylation in leaves of <i>Nicotiana alata</i> was discussed.

Kinetics of a monomolecular reaction between n components

The reaction kinetics has been investigated of a general monomolecular reaction between n components, where reactions between some components are reversible and between others irreversible. The reacting components may be divided into groups so that all the components inside one group may change reversibly into each other, while reactions between components of different groups are irreversible. The reaction kinetics for each reversible group may be found similarly to the case where all the reactions are reversible; solutions for the individual reversible groups may be used to obtain solution for the whole system. A solution was also found to a difficult case in which matrices have multiple eigenvalues for irreversible consecutive reactions, namely, for a general case of degeneracy. Formulas are given for the calculation of derivatives of concentrations of the individual components with respect to parameters. The equations thus derived were applied to the reaction kinetics of a polymeranalogous reaction (e.g., hydrolysis of polyacrylonitrile).

An investigation of the kinetics of a reversible monomolecular reaction between n components

It has been shown that the solution of kinetic equations can be transformed into diagonalization of a symmetrical matrix, in contrast with the solution known so far and requiring diagonalization of a nonsymmetrical matrix. Simple formulas are given for the calculation of derivatives of the concentrations of individual components with respect to the parameters. All formulas are presented in a compact matrix form; their uniformity for a large number of cases recognized in the existing literature greatly facilitates writing computer programs for calculations of reaction kinetics.